DxD KOHA GUDAxGUDA
by Lord Trent Blackmore
Summary: Dual SI of myself and KnightOfTheEnd from SpaceBattles. Two men are dropped into Highschool DxD with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a Class Card a piece. They've got a hell of a journey ahead of them. (Hiatus Over!)
1. Chapter 1

**DxD: KOHA GudaXGuda**  
 **Chapter 1**

-X-X-X-X-

Walking down the street in the late afternoon, a man looked up to the sky and then about at the crowd, his expression twisted in confusion. As he walked, looking at the signs in a language that he knew he shouldn't have been able to read and listening to snatches of conversation that he shouldn't have been able to understand, his confusion grew greater.

He was quite confused, and he made a point of trying to keep calm, as a grown man freaking out in the streets got all sorts of the wrong attention. Pausing to pat down his pockets to make sure he wasn't missing anything in them, he found something that hadn't been there before and pulled it out to inspect it.

A single card, made of a material that he didn't recognize, with the illustration of an archer upon it.

Flipping the card over and finding nothing other than a blank slate, he murmured, "A Class Card? What the hell?"

Shaking his head he shoved the card back into his pocket and decided to try and find a park or something, this crowd was getting to him…

-X-X-X-X-

A young man with brown hair wiped sleep away from his eyes with a tired hand. Rubbing his face lazily, he yawned mightily.

"Damn, that was some nap…" He muttered to himself, cracking his knuckles and smiling at the sensation. "A bit stiff, but eh."

Stretching his limbs out, the man got up from where he'd been lying on a patch of green grass-

He blinked for several moments, his capacity for speech leaving him.

"What the hell?" He said disbelievingly, looking around incredulously. "Where am I?"

This wasn't Ireland at all. Wherever he was, it was nice and sunny- no rain at all, and the buildings were close together. People of all genders, all ages walked up and down the streets from what he could see, laughing and smiling together in the fortunate weather.

Yes, this wasn't Ireland at all, the Isle of Perpetual Rain. It was… somewhere else.

Veins pumping, the man's shaking hands went through his leather jacket's pockets, trying to find his phone or wallet or anything that could help. His hand clasped around some sort of rectangular object, and the panic seeped away for a short time.

Wrenching it from his jacket, the man quirked an eyebrow. It was a single, rectangular card with the image of an armoured knight holding a sword in en-garde. He turned it over, seeing the same image on the other side.

"A Saber Class Card?" He wondered, confusion breeding in his head. "Where'd I get this?"

It was definitely a Class Card from that Prisma Illya series, of that there was no doubt. The twenty-one year old rubbed it between his fingers experimentally, before pocketing it into his jeans.

It was only then he realised he was in his preferred casual clothes, but breathed out uneasily and began walking.

Maybe he could find a public phone or something, to contact back home.

His brow furrowed and he breathed in and out as he stalked forward.

-X-X-X-X-

The park the man had found was actually oddly abandoned for a sunny day, though he paid it no mind as he strolled the paths of the park. Taking a few deep breathes, the man crouched down just off the path under a tree, reaching up to rake a hand through his blond hair.

"Fuck all of this."

While walking he'd checked his phone and found that not only did it not connect to his service provider, but it also didn't allow him to connect to any of the apps he had installed on it. He was lost, in a foreign country, with no real way to contact anyone he knew, especially given the fact that no one would take his money.

He rocked back on his heels, standing from the squat as he stared into the park, the greenery not giving him any satisfactory answer.

He sighed as he stepped back onto the path and decided to start walking again, he needed to calm down, get the jitters out of his system.

Nearby, the other man had gradually been losing his mind. Like the other, his phone wasn't working if at all, and nothing could be dialled in- it all went to voicemail or to just static.  
"Fucking damn it," He hissed to himself, scratching his head harshly.

Anger pulsed through his veins and he stuffed his useless phone roughly into his pocket. Leaning against a tree, he focused on the sounds around him- the birds, people talking and the gentle breeze that cooled his skin.

Doing this always helped, he found. Concentrating, feeling his limbs lose their strength from non-use, the irritation and sheer fear melted away. He opened his eyes once more and walked off.

At that moment, he noticed someone else nearby. Stopping, he raised an eyebrow at the sight.

It was a blond guy, around his age he'd think, pacing through the same park. His face was anxious, drawn into itself, and he was looking around like he had been- desperately and in fear.

"What's his deal?" He wondered, weighing his options.

After a minute, he shrugged and walked over to the guy steadily, heart pounding. Maybe they were in the same mess.

Once he was nearby, he raised a hand in welcome. "Hey! Are you okay?"

Staring at the man who'd called out to him, the blond shrugged, "S'all fuckery in my books dude. Today is the definition of not mine. You?"

The brunette nodded in sympathy, his chest jittering. "Yeah, me too. I have no idea where I am, see."

From his jacket he took out his Saber Class Card, flashing it to his companion. "Had this though. No idea why."

"Well, it seems we're in the same boat in both cases. No idea where we are, and a Class Card in our pockets," The blonde chuckled darkly, pulling out his Archer Card. "The name's… well, call me Trent."

The brunette raised an eyebrow at the given name, staring at 'Trent'. "Huh… I know a guy who wrote stuff, using Trent as his pen-name. Nice guy."

He stretched his arms out, feeling them crack before extending a hand. "Call me Josh then. Nice to meet you."

"Ha, if he used Blackmore as the last name and Lord as a title, then that'd be quite something, seeing as that's the name I used online," Trent laughed as reached out and gave Josh's hand a shake.

Josh raised another eyebrow, head spinning. Blackmore? Yeah, that was definitely familiar. Was this actually the Trent he knew? The guy hadn't ever told him his hair colour, not his height either.

He breathed in, and decided to take a leap of faith. Hell, the stress was driving him mad- what was one more disappointment to him?

"I'm KnightOfTheEnd online, by the way," He replied, meeting Trent's gaze. "I write Fate stuff mostly, plus I have a problem with coming up with too many ideas."

"Huh, things are all falling in weird ways, ain't they Kote?" Trent replied, though he wasn't quite sure how things had come to this. How had he and Josh ended up wherever they were, why the two of them, and why did they have Class Cards. There was too much to consider…

Josh nodded. Even now, with confirmation, he could hardly believe the situation they were in. It was almost surreal, seeing unfamiliar people walk by.

"Boy, that's an understatement," He replied, head running through possible courses of action. "This is just like a self-insert, isn't it? Never thought I'd actually be in one."

"Don't, don't do that. We're actually dealing with this, trying to contextualize like that is like trying to convince yourself that something's just a dream. Sure, the situation is certainly like that, but we're actually here, with these damn Class Cards," Trent scolded the other man, his fingers rubbing the material of the Class Card in his hand.

With a shake of his head, the blond swept his arm out toward the center of the park and declared, "Hell, in something like that there's usually some big sign to let everyone know the setting!"

As Trent ranted, which his companion tuned out of, something caught Josh's eye. Or rather, someone did.

Across the park, walking down the streets of the town were two people. One had long black hair and… he squinted his eyes- yes, she had azure eyes as well. Her companion had brown hair like himself, but the back spiked up at the back of his neck.

They were a fair distance away so Josh narrowed his eyes even more, strain pounding on his eyelids.

With a sinking suspicion in his stomach as well as a sense of pride, he turned back to Trent. "Hey, about that divine tip? I think I know where we are."

Following Josh's direction, Trent caught sight of the duo by the fountain, catalogued their features, and felt panic well up in his stomach. He quickly pulled his glasses away from his face to see if there was any dirt or smudges on them, before jamming them back on when there was none.

Rather than wait, he started to move towards the duo. Even if the kid was a massive pervert who needed to rein it in, he was still a kid.

His fingers tightened around the Class Card, maybe if he showed up he could get Raynare to abort her plan…

Josh started as Trent began marching purposefully towards the couple. Yelping in surprise, he jogged to catch up to his companion. Goddamnit, was the guy thinking of doing this for real?

"Hey hey hey, Trent! Cool it!" He said to him, matching his pace. "If this is where we think it is, getting involved isn't a good idea! Chances of her impaling us are pretty high, and I'd like to keep myself alive!"

It was the honest truth. Josh liked very much to keep himself alive and without any wounds. If that meant being a bit of a dick and not going to help someone, that was how it was. Survival was his main concern, especially right now.

Conflict rose in his chest, but he ignored it for the time being.

Keeping up his pace, Trent replied, "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not the sort of person to let a kid get fucking murdered. Besides, we don't have to attack her or anything, she still has to keep the Supernatural a secret, so if there's more than Issei here than she'll have to weigh the benefits of killing him versus the chances of us seeing her and then escaping."

Josh sucked in a breath, determined to argue his point. "This is Raynare, Trent. Remember? She gutted Issei and took a lotta pleasure out of taking out Asia's Sacred Gear. If anything, she'd revel in the chance to gut people like us!"

Raynare was a sadistic bitch alright, from his memories of the source material. Typical villain loving to monologue, but she backed it with psychologically fucking Issei for a good while after her death.

No way did he want to metaphorically stick himself into crazy!

"She also had the upper hand in both cases. She ran rather than properly confront Issei when it was just her picking up Asia while they were in public!" Trent replied, trying to close the distance even as the two in question fluttered near the fountain.

Josh nodded reluctantly as they neared the fountain, the two 'lovebirds' coming near to it also.

"Alright, fine, I give you that one," Josh admitted, falling into line. "But still… this is really bone-headed. Shirou level-bone headed. Hell, we don't even know if our Class Cards are gonna work."

To illustrate his point, Josh took his out once more and glanced at it.

Yes, Include and Install were possible with them, but he didn't even know the Hero inside his. Trent probably didn't either. They could have anyone, and knowing the Hero in advance would be a massive advantage.

As they came nearer to Raynare and Issei, Josh frustratingly swore under his breath. He didn't know Trent could be such a stubborn son of a bitch, and every instinct was telling him to run, but…

Issei was a pervert, a huge one, but no way did he deserve to die.

"You're gonna get us killed Trent," Josh said at last, breathing out and letting his shoulders sag. "Just saying."

"Never told you to come along, but thanks for doing so. And you're right, this is stupid, but like I said, I'm not gonna let a kid get killed," Trent answered as he slowed his pace, trying to look like he was just on a casual stroll. He wasn't quite so sure if he managed it.

The sky turned orange quickly and a cutting breeze sliced through Josh. He tugged his jacket further around him, but it did no good. And from the looks of it, Trent wasn't doing much better.

They were close enough now to 'Yuma' and Issei now. Yuma was whispering something in Issei's ear, something that left the boy confused. Then she stepped away, hands behind her back-

Blood pumping noisily in his ears, Josh decided what his course of action would be despite himself.

"Fuck it!" He groaned to himself, picking up his pace and running like hell.

He pounded down the stone, leaving Trent behind, breathing in and out. His lungs burned and his legs felt like lead, but-

Issei turned his head towards him, eyes widening as he raced right at him, snapped out of his confusion.

"Hey wait, what are you-" The boy asked frantically, waving his hands to and fro in a panic.

"Saving your life you dipshit!" Josh replied heatedly, tackling the kid to the ground.

A moment later, a Light Spear stabbed right into where Issei had just been standing. It melted the concrete around it, before fizzling out.

Josh grunted as his shoulder slammed into the ground painfully, crushing on top of Issei before rolling off with a slight effort.

Trent shook his head as he pulled out his phone and pointed it at Raynare, better to have some sort of threat to hold over her head. The Fallen Angel had completed her transformation and was seething in the direction of the two on the ground, even as the blond approached.

He'd honestly thought that Josh would have left this all up to him, looks like he's a bit more self-sacrificing than he'd admit.

Taking a deep breath, he aimed his shaking hand at the Fallen as he threatened, "Hey, you let us go or I'll send this picture to everyone."

The Fallen rounded on him, a Light Spear in her hand as she snarled, "Why the hell should I listen to a worm like you?"

"Because I have a picture of you, and my friend over there does too. You try anything and we expose you to the world," Trent tried to grin as he waved his phone a bit.

The Fallen laughed mightily, and haughtily, as she hefted her spear, "Like I need to listen to a worthless human!"

The spear was thrust, and the world seemed to slow for Trent as he tried to dodge out of the way. He'd been wrong, Raynare was going to kill them.

He was going to get Josh killed.

He hadn't changed things for Issei.

He was going to die.

The Class Card burned in his hands, it was his only hope… but what if it was a dud? Worse what if it was for someone like Gilgamesh?

His breath caught in his throat, he had to risk it, "Install!"

A sudden light rose around Trent, shielding him from view. Josh gasped as the bright light stunned him, covering his eyes. Beside him Issei did the same thing, and the brunette thought he heard Raynare recoil from the light too.

The light disappeared into wisps, and Josh saw what Trent was garbed in.

Red and black clothes, like an officer, with a long cape fluttering behind him. A tall hat on his head with a golden star on the front, and long-barreled guns clutched in his hands.

Issei shuddered beside him, left arm trembling. "W-what's that guy?"

Josh slapped his face, unable to dispel the shock. "That is...uh, Oda Nobunaga?"

Well, this was fantastic.

Trent flipped the gun in his right hand up, the barrel aimed at the spear coming towards him, and squeezed the trigger. The shot sounded like cannon fire in his ears, the bullet tearing from the rifle and through the spear with ease.

Rather than stop there or dissipate, the bullet continued on and into Raynare's hand, wrecking it. Blinking at the result, Trent couldn't help but murmur under his breath as the Fallen shrieked in pain, "Right, Anti-Divine and Anti-Mystery."

Rather than continue on like that, he hefted the gun in his left so it was pointed at Raynare's head, the former angel's usually beautiful face twisted in agony and rage. Breathing out heavily from his nose he declared, "Leave, or I'll do a lot worse than ruin your hand. I don't think even an agent of the Grigori would shrug off a brain full of lead."

The Fallen shuddered, clutching at the stump at the end of her arm as she snarled, "You think that you'll just get away with this? You're just some human, less than trash!"

"And you're below me, so what does that make you?" Trent answered coolly, making a show of cocking the rifle. "So tell me, you feel like testing your luck?"

"Holy shit." Josh said in awe, dumbly sitting on the hard street.

His nerves had faded by now in the display Trent had just shown them all. Replacing it was excitement and something… that blazed in his chest. Was it admiration?

Trent had taken care of Raynare's weapon and wounded her so easily. It made sense given Nobunaga's kit and skills, but still… blowing her away when she was about to murder them all…

He smiled, showing off his teeth.

Maybe they would end up surviving after all, he thought as his hand unconsciously drifted to his pocket.

Shivers sounded beside him. He looked: Issei, whilst being awed too, was trembling like crazy. His breaths were rapid and heavy and his skin was turning pale. Every part of him was trembling and his eyes were fixed on Raynare.

With a sinking sensation, Josh knew what Issei was going through.

He was having a panic attack.

"Issei… Issei!" He addressed the boy, who didn't respond.

Gulping down the weight in his throat, Josh crawled up to the kid slowly so as to not get Raynare's attention.

Pulling up beside the pervert, he gently grasped Issei's shoulders. The boy reacted now, looking at him with shaking eyes.

"Breathe, in and out like this," Josh instructed him patiently from his own experiences. He breathed in and out slowly, rhythmically. "In...and out… Can you do that for me? It'll help, trust me."

Issei didn't quite seem to hear him: he kept on shaking for a good minute, but eventually he nodded and modified his breathing pattern. His harsh and rapid breaths gradually became slower and lighter, and as they did Josh was glad to see the tremors were stopping and slowing gradually.

With a gentle hand, he put Issei's hand onto his chest, letting him feel through his shirt his own breathing. Then he did the same as the younger boy.

"In...and out…" The brunette instructed, concern fading away bit by bit. "Good… you're doing good Issei. Just keep at it."

As he calmed down Issei, Josh looked back over to Raynare and Trent. Neither had moved in these short minutes, but the Fallen's wings twitched and her face twisted into a monstrous visage, hissing down at Trent.

Who merely kept his iron grip on his guns, levelling them right at Raynare's head. He then made a point of moving one down to aim it at her thigh, and growled, "Fly away little chicky, or we'll see your flamingo impression."

"You'll regret this!" She seethed, her wings snapping out as she took to the air, the blond's guns trailing her as she fled.

The instant she was out of sight, his arms dropped and he started panting. He took a few shuddering breaths as he muttered, "Jesus Christ, Jesus titfucking Christ, I just shot someone. Holy fuck."

"Yeah…" Josh muttered disbelievingly, still focusing on keeping Issei grounded. "Yeah you did. And it was awesome."

Awesome and harrowing, he'd admit. Even right now, he was struggling to keep it together. His veins and blood were still pumping like crazy now that Raynare had been scared off, and his vision swam as he tried standing up.

"Fuck." He breathed out, slowly and with as much exhaustion as he could muster. "We are so totally screwed."

A searing feeling was spreading through his chest and to his pocket. What it meant he had no clue, but maybe the Class Cards were reacting to each other? He was too stressed to think of experimenting, so Josh just settled for continuing his breathing exercises with Issei, who still looked ready to pass out.

Trent breath deeply, willing the Class Card to uninstall, to release the hold on him so he could walk around without looking like a loony cosplayer. There was a brief flash, leaving him in his actual clothes rather than Nobunaga's uniform, he let out a shuddering breath and collapsed into a squat.

"Well, we're on Raynare's shit list at least."

"No doubt about it," Josh replied. "Good job by the way: nice to see that bitch fly away. Woulda gone for the head though."

Issei was still looking like he'd hurl, so Josh just rubbed the kid's back in circles, hoping that would do something. It did for him years ago, but whether it would do the same for Issei remained to be seen.

He looked up at Trent after a minute. "Anyway, what do we do now? Issei's quite literally not dead like he's supposed to be, so how's Rias supposed to show up again?"

Issei jerked a bit, recognising his words maybe, but Josh kept a firm grip on the lad.

Trent shrugged, shaking his head as he sucked in a breath, "Well, I mean, I can't really say that I'd just be comfortable killing someone, even if they are a disgusting person like Raynare. As for Gremory… she usually shows up because she was summoned through the flyer the kid has and his wish to live when Raynare ganks him."

"Forgot about that bit," Josh noted. "Should we use it or something? I mean, it's worth a shot."

Even as he spoke he poked around Issei's pockets, eventually fishing out the flyer in question. It was strangely worded and had the design of a Devil on the front, but overall looked just like an ordinary piece of paper.

"Right, how do we use this?" Josh wondered. "Do we sacrifice someone? I'll get the knife!"

His subsequent laugh rang hollow in the empty day, and he awkwardly walked over to Trent with the flyer, keeping Issei to the ground and keeping an eye on him.

Taking the flyer, the blonde looked it over before laughing, "Pretty sure the sacrificing thing should be my stick given Nobu, but…"

And then he focused on the flyer, and the sigil imprinted upon it. He wanted to talk to the leader of the Devils who used this sigil, he needed to talk to that devil in particular. The sigili flashed with crimson light as a larger version appeared on the ground before them, a shape taking form within it.

She was beautiful, her hair a deep crimson, with a body that could only be called a knockout. It wouldn't be odd to call her temptation incarnate from the way she strained her school uniform, while her pouty lips quirked into a curious smile as she took the trio in. Her blue eyes drifted over the group as she asked, "Well, I've been summoned by you, might I ask what your wish is?"


	2. Chapter 2

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**  
 **Chapter 2**

-X-X-X-X-

The redhead looked over the trio, and then at the signs of battle littering the park, "My, it seems that there was something of a scuffle here. But, I get the feeling that wasn't the reason why I was called by the three of you, so what wish do you want granted?"

"That depends on the cost of having you repair most of the damage here, and explaining the supernatural world to the kid," Trent replied as he jerked his head in the direction of Issei, who was flabbergasted by the sight of the most popular girl in his school appearing from a pentagram.

Josh kept quiet, silently continuing to help Issei keep himself sane even as the kid was calming himself down now. He eyed Rias wearily- though he knew of her from the anime, it was different to actually encountering her in the flesh.

He licked his dry lips and rubbed his fingers together nervously.

The red-headed devil hummed a bit as she studied the damage, "Well, it shouldn't be too much to fix this place up, it seems to mostly be cosmetic damage. How about in exchange, you tell me what happened here."

"About that…" The blond looked at the damage and considered the fact that he'd actually fired off a gun. Japan was a country that took guns and gun violence quite seriously, so even if there were only reports that there had been gunfire then it would be taken seriously. Police in the area would be on the lookout for suspicious characters, which could clamp down on the activities of the Fallen given how they tended to dress.

With a somewhat strained attempt at a smile, Trent spoke, "Could you leave some of the damage? I think that in the long run, it would be beneficial for both our interests."

"Oh? I hope that you'll include that in your explanation as well, given that this could make people suspicious," Rias answered with a raised eyebrow, even as the sigil of House Gremory appeared above her hand, and the damage to the park started to repair itself.

"Hey uh, what the hell's going on?" Issei's shaking voice cut through the other interactions.

Standing up on his shaking legs, the highschool boy looked around in shock and surprise at the destruction, clutching his left arm. He scratched his hair quickly, hands jittering.

"I mean, I was just on a date with a bombshell, then she tries to kill me, then two guys come out of nowhere to help me?" The Hyoudou breathed out an erratic breath. "So yeah… what is going on?"

"It'd be best to wait 'till we get somewhere else, Issei," Josh replied, unease sparking in his chest. "Really it would be."

The young man gave a sympathetic look towards Issei, before glancing over at Trent.

The blond just shrugged in reply, but addressed Issei, "Josh's right, it would be best if this waited till a bit later, but suffice to say, the world's a lot bigger than you actually thought."

"What? That doesn't explain anything!" He complained, causing Trent to chuckle wryly as he gave another shrug. The blond was doing his best to appear confident and in control, but even he knew there were cracks in that act.

As Rias finished fixing most of the damage, she gave it a final once over before looking to the trio, "Will this do?"

Eying the groove of torn up pavement left in the ground from one of Raynare's strikes, Trent nodded, "I think that's good, what do you think Josh?"

Josh shrugged, biting his lip as he looked it over. "Honestly couldn't care much, considering we almost got impaled by a psychotic bitch. But guess it works."

"Well, yes, but it's the principle of the matter, you know? Ah, whatever, the groove looks enough like it was caused by a stray bullet to work. Miss Gremory, if you know of a more secure place where we can have our discussion, then I think it would be best if we moved there," The blond shook his head before turning back to the devil in their midst.

Her eyes narrowed at being addressed, but nodded, "Yes, I know just the place. Would the three of you be adverse to me transporting the four of us there?"

"I'd be fine with that," Trent agreed, not noticing Rias' wariness.

"Me too." Josh replied also, eyes also narrowing a bit at the Gremory's own wariness, hand clutching his card.

"I'll follow those magnificent pair of breasts anywhere!" Issei declared, clenching his fists. "Sempai, lead on!"

Everything was silent for a few moments at the Hyoudou's declaration. Josh raised an eyebrow then calmly smacked the boy across the back of the head.

"What was that for?!" Issei demanded, rubbing the sore spot.

"Just for being you," Josh admitted, sighing as he walked over to Trent and Rias. "Honestly forgot how irritating you could be…"

Glancing at the duo, Trent interjected, "Now, now, he's a kid and he did just get out of a rather… difficult situation, so we should probably cut him some slack. Not too much though."

Even as Issei swung between relieved that the blond seemed to be on his side and then depressed that maybe he wasn't, Rias just giggled. With a gesture of her hand, she declared, "Well, if we're all ready to go…"

There was a flash of crimson, and the group found themselves in a finely decorated room, with plush couches, a nice table, and a number of antiques around the room.

"Huh, fancy." Josh admitted, looking around the room.

It kinda looked like one of those VIP rooms in hotels or bars, just decorated with red and gold stuff. He ran a hand across one of the chairs, the fine crimson velvet tickling his fingers pleasantly.

Hmm, it seemed Rias had good furniture taste after all.

"Give me a few moments to organise everything, you three," Rias requested, walking over to the room's entrance. "Given the… interesting events of today, I need to go fetch someone. Please, relax for a bit."

"Of course, take all the time you need," Trent replied as he gave the room a once over, before taking a seat on one of the couches. The decor was a bit fancy for his tastes, but if it worked for her he wouldn't knock it.

Issei was torn between watching the devil walk away and looking at everything in the room, but settled for sitting in one of the chairs present and looking about nervously after Rias retreated from the room. He gulped a bit, "Are you guys sure that this will be okay? Especially after what happened with Yuuma?"

Leaning against the back of the couch and crossing his legs, Trent shrugged, "Gremory's a lot less likely to kill us than the crow was, so we should be okay. Unless we put our feet in our mouths, and screw everything up."

"True that, her brother's a monster from what I remember, one of the big hitters." Josh replied, making to kick his feet up before putting them down. "Heh, he's 'Actually-Satan', Trent, geddit?"

"Mhm, though he's nowhere near as gruff. But yeah, he's a heavy hitter in the world that's opened up to you, Issei so be careful," Trent chuckled a bit at the joke before advising Issei.

"Umm… okay. So he's like Frieza?" Issei asked, rubbing his hands together. "That kinda makes sense, I guess."

The boy seemed content in just sitting on the chair. He looked down- his hands were shaking, as the events of the night kept playing over and over in his head.

Yuuma turning into some sort of BDSM angel… her trying to kill him… these two guys saving him and then Rias Gremory, the bombshell of the Kuoh Academy, turning out to somehow be magical?

He put his head into his hands.

This was a lot to take in, even more than his first JRPG!

Looking at the slowly cracking Issei, Trent spoke up, "Closer to Beerus, especially if you look at the guy's specialty. Both of them have the Power of Destruction."

The teen perked up at that, "Wait, seriously, he's like a God of Destruction?"

"Yup, though he's pretty affable for the most part," Trent confirmed, glad that the small distraction helped calm Issei down a bit.

{~}{~}

Shortly after, Rias sat on the couch opposite to Josh and Trent. Her legs were folded over each other in a relaxing motion, and she looked at them affably.

But that wasn't the only thing.

Sitting next to her was someone that was quite her opposite. With short black hair and glasses, Sona Sitri was undoubtedly a cold and logical person. Her face bore a heavy frown as she looked at the three others present, pushing her glasses further up her nose.

Josh had to stop himself staring into her icy blue eyes, rubbing his face in annoyance.

Eying the seemingly flustered Josh out of the corner of his gaze, Trent wasn't sure what had him acting like that but settled for crossing his arms as he began, "I suppose you'd like for me to uphold my end of the agreement now?"

"Yes, I think that would be best," Rias conceded while Sona nodded, choosing to remain silent.

The blond nodded as he explained, "Well, due to certain circumstances beyond our control, Josh and I ended up here in Japan and were simply wandering about when we came across young Issei and the woman he was on a date with. While we would normally have left the pair alone, we noticed that the young lady was actually a Fallen Angel in disguise and intervened when she tried to kill him. After a brief scuffle, I managed to force her to flee."

Taking a moment to clean her glasses, Sona eyed Trent. After a moment of internal deliberation, she leaned forward slightly.

"Tell me, how did you manage to fight off a Fallen Angel? You seem human, but you would need some kind of power to do so." She asked, going for the jugular. Her eyes never left Trent's own, like a predator.

Rather than visibly show his discomfort, Trent shrugged, "Josh and I've access to certain… skills that can allow us to swing against the supernatural members of the world. Nothing so spectacular as some of the Sacred Gears out there, but they get the job done."

The pair of devils shared a look, the both of them clearly coming to their own conclusions based on the blond's explanation. Rather than press the matter, Rias spoke, "Well, we do have something of an idea as to why Hyoudou was targeted by the Fallen, though we didn't expect anything like this to happen. For there to be Fallen encroaching on our territory…"

"Indeed, it is a troublesome situation. We'll have to tighten our security and investigate their presence," The dark haired devil agreed.

Josh stretched out on the couch, head ticking away at the possibilities, hiding his discomfort behind his usual detachment.

"They seem like a boastful bunch," He idly noted of the Fallen. "If they're after Issei or someone else, they're not gonna stop. Security measures won't really discourage them."

Sona raised an eyebrow at him. "How so?"

"Well," Josh cracked his fingers, memories spinning in his head. "They're fanatics it looks like. Crazies, people who want to hurt people for the sake of it. If they want something they'll take it."

He turned his eyes down for a moment, before looking back up at Sona. "They'll do anything to get it. Anything, so security measures might not cut it. I… kinda know from personal experience."

Sona seemed to stare into his soul at that moment, from behind her glasses. Urging his chest to stop pounding in excitement, Josh kept to himself again- even as the warm feeling of looking at Sona spread, his logic and reason locked that away in a tide of cold.

The Sitri debated something for a moment, turning away to briefly talk with Rias. The Sitri was reluctant to admit something, or at least seemed to accept something Rias seemed shocked at. The Gremory mulled it over, before nodding.

"If that is the case, then," The Sitri heir spoke up, eyeing the two mysterious young men. "Our normal procedures may not be enough. You said you had a power that allowed you to nearly kill the Fallen, yes?"

"Something to that effect, yes. Though I'll admit that I'd rather force the enemy to retreat than kill them. Wouldn't it be best to work with the system that's in place, report their presence to a higher authority so they can get on the horn to the Fallen Angels and see if this is all on the up and up?" Trent asked, as he'd rather not get too involved with this mess.

…even if it did end with Azazel offering her head to the devils as compensation.

The devils didn't immediately respond, but when she spoke Rias seemed a bit hesitant, "We would rather that this be dealt with in house."

Josh furrowed a brow. "Not to be an ass, but why? It makes more sense to call in the cavalry and take care of the issue. It's the most fundamental part of overpowering enemies."

"Something like this could be taken by hardliners as a reason to push for open hostilities between our factions, and we'd rather avoid potentially restarting the Great War," Sona explained as she pushed up her glasses, the lenses flaring as the light bounced off them.

Trent shrugged, "I suppose, but wouldn't it be best to have some back up on hand in any case? We don't actually know the total number of the enemy forces, so even if they are small fry for the most part they could still overwhelm us through numbers."

"While that is true, our Peerages should help even things out, regardless of their numbers," Rias declared confidently, an easy smile on her face.

The blond shook his head, "Well, if push comes to shove, I'll be willing to lend a hand, but our main priority should be ensuring the kid's safety for the moment."

"That's right," Josh agreed. "I mean, he's kind of a pervert and a liability-"

"HEY!"

Josh smiled goodnaturedly. "But he doesn't deserve to be hunted or to die. Anyone who thinks that needs to get their ass kicked."

Sona nodded minutely. "Hmm… given his apparent importance to the Fallen Angels, that would be a wise move."

"It would be a good move to have you three inducted into our peerages," Rias said, crossing her arms under her chest. "Even with your… powers, you're still human. Becoming a Devil would secure some protection, and you'd be able to fight the Fallen easier."

Sona looked over at her friend quickly, with an arched eyebrow. Evidently, she hadn't expected Rias to bring this up at all. Trent clicked his tongue, "I'll pass on that, my morals might be loose and easily compromised but I'd rather remain human. I can't speak for Josh though, and Issei at least should at least be informed of other options outside of becoming a devil."

Rias did her best to hide her disappointment behind a graceful smile, while Sona nodded stiffly. For his part though, Issei just looked confused, "Peerage? Become a devil? What are you talking about?"

"Well…"

{~}{~}

Issei slumped back onto his chair, rubbing his forehead. "Resurrection, magic, Sacred Gears… this all sounds like a manga. If it weren't for sempai's glorious breasts and smile, I wouldn't believe any of it!"

Of course he would think that, was the thought going through everyone's head at that moment.

"And you're saying I have one of those things inside me?" The Hyoudou asked. "Is it some sort of super-awesome weapon or finishing move?"

"Eh, there's no way to tell a Sacred Gear's abilities before it's manifested, though most are weapons of some sort," Trent explained, a hand coming up as he gesticulated. "Your Sacred Gear could be anything from a lowly Twice Critical to a Longinus, but we won't be able to tell until you activate it."

Rias nodded as she joined in, "Though we do have reason to believe that your Sacred Gear could be a powerful one, based on certain hints we picked up."

"So how do I activate it then? It could help me stay safe from Yuuma's group, right?" Issei asked, his eyes shining.

"Kinda like reaching deep inside you and pulling it out. Like a switch I guess," Josh replied. "It depends on the person though."

Issei looked down at his hand, clenching it wordlessly. "If that's the case then… like any manga, I just need to think hard on what I like and want to achieve, right?"

"Sort of, though it would be best for you to imagine the strongest thing you can, and think about replicating them and being as strong as them," Trent advised from his own seat.

The brunet nodded, closed his eyes and shifted into the pose Goku has when launching a Kamehameha. The boy didn't begin shouting, but the image was enough to force Trent to stifle his laughter. In a few moments, the air seemed to change as a crimson gauntlet appeared on his left arm.

Rias's smile faltered a bit, "It would seem that everyone was getting a bit over excited about your Sacred Gear, Hyoudou. In the end, it was a Twice Critical."

"Eh? Is that bad?" Issei asked, suddenly disappointed from Rias' tone. He looked down at the fingerless red gauntlet.

Staring into its green jewel… he thought he could hear something speaking, and something warm like a flame burned inside him. It was hot, but not unbearably so.

"Twice Criticals are… unremarkable and common Sacred Gears that simply double the power of their wielder. While they're quite formidable on people who are already quite powerful, on people who are weak they don't amount to much," Sona explained bluntly, looking honestly disappointed as well.

Trent nodded, "Sadly, Twice Criticals aren't the greatest Sacred Gears, but there's also the rumour about the Boosted Gear to consider…"

"You mean that it initially appears as a Twice Critical but awakens after some use?" Sona inquired, her eyes sharpening. "Though it is a rumour, it would be nice if it were true."

Rather than give up that the rumour is true, Trent shrugged, "Well, even if it's not, that Twice Critical means that we just have to whip Hyoudou into shape so that he can at least hold his own."

"Yes, I suppose so. Tell me, Issei Hyoudou, would you care to join my Peerage and become a devil?" Rias offered, smiling at the young man. Trent almost heaved a sigh of relief, even if Issei's Sacred Gear wasn't initially spectacular, Rias was still willing to reach out to him. "We'd be more than happy to help you become stronger."

The teen, who had been thrust into the supernatural world so suddenly seemed to shrink in on himself as he thought, but eventually spoke, "Um, I don't know if I could make a huge decision just like that, even if it's for Gremory-sempai. Would you guys mind if I thought about it?"

Rias smiled at him. "No, take your time Issei. Most of all, this should be your choice and yours alone. It wouldn't be right to force you to decide right now."

Josh nodded as well. "Mmm, it's a big life-altering choice alright. Just don't procrastinate- Lord knows I have experience with that!"

"I'd actually recommend shopping around and seeing what the other Factions have to offer. No offense to the young ladies here, but there are other factions out there from the Church to the Youkai and I'm fairly sure that they all try and recruit Sacred Gear wielders," Trent opined, doing his best from stepping on Rias and Sona's toes.

The devils did look a bit dissatisfied, but Sona declared, "I suppose so. I suggest that we break for the evening and meet again soon, if that's alright."

"Actually," Josh raised a hand, flushing a bit. "We… don't have a place to stay here. Our money's not in yen either."

Sona rested her chin on her hand. "Hmm, that is an issue, if you're going to help us. We could set you two up with an apartment nearby, but the documentation would take a few days to a week at most. The same with accounts and money."

"Actually, they could come stay with me!" Issei butted in, surprising everyone. "You guys saved my life, so it's only right that I offer hospitality! Plus…"

The boy's face took on a perverted look. "We can bond over our appreciation of breasts and the girl's bodies!"

"I'd appreciate it if you would help get us set up with accounts and a place to stay, Miss Sitri, but I'm sure we can work out a deal for all that later," Trent spoke to the young devil, a smile on his face. He then turned to Hyoudou, "Kid, I can understand talking about the sort of women we're attracted to, but don't expect me to watch porn with you. That'd be weird."

"Same here, it's a bit creepy," Josh said as well, before getting up and stretching his limbs. "But we'd better get going, right?"

He turned to face Sona, the hammering sensation going off in his chest again. "Um… see you later, Sona!"

He started on a quick walk, exiting the room before he got asked on why he addressed Sona by her first name.

Trent watched Josh go, before standing up and following while shaking his head, "Sorry about him. We'll see you guys later. C'mon kid, you gotta show me and Josh where we're headed."

"Right! It's just a little bit away from the school…" Issei replied, leading Trent out of the room and towards his home.

Rias and Sona watched the three go. Sona briefly focused on Josh and his strange reaction to her, before thinking on the bigger picture.

"Those two are trouble, Rias," She warned her friend. "Even if they mean well, things could go wrong from now on."

Rias sighed, "You're not wrong, but they're the best leads we have on the Fallen in our area."

Sona nodded hesitantly, before the two of them walked away, thoughts occupied on the strange young men they had encountered.


	3. Chapter 3

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**  
 **Chapter 3**

-X-X-X-X-

It was night by now. Streetlights had come on, glistening orbs in the darkness, and stars could be seen shining in the sky.

Josh breathed into his hands, watching as wisps of breath came out. He hugged his arms together- even through his leather jacket, it was getting colder than he'd like.

"So Issei, what're your parents like?" He asked of the Hyoudou, who turned around in surprise.

"Ahh…" Issei searched for an answer, scratching his cheek in thought. "My parents are really cool. I mean, they're laid back but they care a lot y'know? It's the same with me- I'd do anything for them."

"That's good to hear," Trent murmured as he strolled leisurely along with them, enjoying the cool evening air on his bare arms. "Anything that we should know in particular, beyond not mentioning the supernatural?"

"Uh… not really? Like I said, they're pretty laid back for the most part, so as long as you don't go out of your way to be a dick…" The teen answered after a few moments of thought.

The blond shrugged, "Easy enough I guess, though I might accidentally piss them off then."

"Eh, I'm sure you're not that bad Trent," Josh replied good-naturedly. "Just be polite, give a smile. That sorta thing."

"Yeah, pretty much," Issei laughed along. "They're… the kindest people I know. Might be better than I deserve."

The boy turned his head down slightly in thought, before smiling again at the two.

"Plus, they don't complain about my porn! So automatically, they're the best!" He declared with a thumbs up.

Trent quirked an eyebrow at the teen and then opined, "Maybe they should complain, at least a token amount. And smiling, eurgh, I dunno if I can anymore today…"

"Wait, what do you mean they should complain about my porn? I have perfectly natural appreciation of the female body, they acknowledge that," Issei argued, his brows furrowing.

Trent shrugged, "Kid, most people don't just straight up talk about porn and such in public like you do. It's kinda weird dude."

"Yeah, just a bit," Josh further elaborated, hands behind his head. "It's uncomfortable to be around someone so open about it. Not saying that watching porn's bad, but… really weird to be this obsessed with it."

Issei seemed like he was about to dive into a heated argument about why porn needed to be exalted, but his eyes shined and a bright smile came over his face as he recognised this street.

"Ah, we're near my house! It's just that one!" Issei pointed to it, a modest two-floor house. Entirely ordinary, but it was his home. "Come on!"

He made to step forward faster, only for a hand to grasp his shoulder. Looking back, he saw Josh with a vacant but concentrated expression on his face.

"Hold up Issei, just a minute." The Irishman asked. "We've got to work out a bit of a cover for your parents."

"Huh?" The brown-haired boy questioned. "Why?"

"Because they'll be curious as to why you're coming home late in the evening with a pair of foreigners. I know my parents would be if I did the same at your age," Trent answered, giving the teen a bland look.

Issei nodded slowly, "Right, right, forgot about that."

"Fair enough," Trent nodded, the kid had been through quite a bit today. "Issei, you get internet on your phone?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, why?" The teen wondered as he pulled out said device.

Josh fixed Trent with a confused expression.

"Yeah, I'm curious too," the young man wondered too. "What're you thinking?"

Internet was a no brainer, but why did Trent want Issei to go onto it? Some kind of info or something?

"Look up the local news, maybe in crime or bulletins from the police. I'm hoping that my gambit from earlier paid off," The blond answered as he gestured for the young man to do so.

The brunet opened his phone and spent a few moments plugging away at it, his brow creasing as he did so. Then his eyes widened as he exclaimed, "Wait a minute, 'Police investigating shots fired at local park?' That's the park that we were at, but why?"

"That's why I had Gremory leave behind some evidence of the scuffle. It was meant to be a way to get the police looking for suspicious figures, as the Fallen tend to look very suspicious in their human guises. But, it'll be useful for us in this case," Trent explained, a satisfied smirk on his face. "So, basic plan, after your date, while you were kicking about the park, we saved you from getting shot."

"Ah, right! That makes a lot of sense!" Issei exclaimed.

"Yeah, pretty devious too." Josh noted as he pulled his jacket further around him. "God, it's freezing tonight. Is it always like this here?"

"It's not so bad around this time of year," Issei elaborated, looking up into the clear sky. "Yeah, it's definitely gonna be colder than usual."

"We'd better get inside then, I don't fancy freezing my ass off." Josh replied grumpily, trying to keep himself warm.

Soon enough they reached the door to the Hyoudou household. Issei rang the doorbell, hand trembling nervously as he did so. Soon, the door opened and his mother showed herself.

For a brief moment she seemed confused, but she saw Issei and grasped him tightly in a hug.

"Issei, you're alright! Your father and I were so worried when you weren't back on time!" She cried into his shoulder, the hug tightening.

"Ah, sorry mom," Issei apologised softly, leaning into the hug. "It was… a bit hectic."

For a moment he took comfort in the warm sensation of his mother's arms, feeling her heartbeat against his. Issei cast his eyes downward, images of the night playing themselves again inside his head.

Rather than try and ruin the moment, Trent stood back a bit and looked away, intent on giving the pair some time to hug it out. Eventually, Issei's mother pulled him from her and gave him a quick once over before sighing, "We were so worried, especially after that police bulletin on the news. Was everything okay?"

"Uh, about that…" Issei trailed off, not looking his mother in the eye. "I uh, I was actually at that park- but I'm okay! These guys saved me and helped me get out of there without getting shot."

He gestured back at Trent and Josh with the last part, causing his mother to look up at them. The blond of the duo raised his hand in greeting, "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Trent, and sorry about this."

"I'm Josh, Mrs Hyoudou," Josh introduced himself with a smile. "After what your son told us, it's very nice to meet you."

The brunette blinked at them for a moment before releasing Issei and giving them a quick bow, "It's a pleasure to meet the two of you as well, I'm Hana Hyoudou. Thank you very much for saving my son's life."

"It's what anyone else would have done in the same situation," Trent replied, waving off the mother's gratitude. While he had no problem accepting it, there was no need for a big show.

It was Issei that spoke up next, "These guys are having some bad luck of their own, because their apartment isn't ready yet. After what happened and hearing what their situation was, I offered to let them stay here for a while, if that's okay?"

"Of course! Anyone whose a friend of our son is welcome in!" Hana exclaimed, before muttering to herself. "Well, except those other two. Honestly, corrupting my sweet boy…"

Josh smiled to himself at the concern of Issei's mother. Honestly, being so protective of her child… it reminded him of his own.

Issei had a good mother, and from what he remembered of DxD proper, the boy wouldn't squander that precious thing.

"Well, let's get inside," Josh said after a long moment to Trent, walking in before his companion could answer.

As they walked in, the Irishman was surprised at the atmosphere of the domicile. It resembled the house he grew up in, only a bit more Eastern in decorations. As the heat warmed him up, Josh could see where Issei became so nice: in this sort of house, it was only natural.

Trent followed the other three in, shucking off his shoes at the entrance and taking in the warmth of the building himself. It was homey enough, and was honestly rather… ordinary. Fitting enough for Issei, who came to the supernatural from a purely mundane life.

As they did so, Hana called out, "Honey, Issei's home and he brought some friends!"

"It's not those two from his school, right?" A man's voice called back worriedly. Clearly, Issei's father was just as familiar with the other two thirds of the Perverted Trio as his wife.

"No no no, these two are nice gentleman! They helped Issei get home!" Hana replied, and out of one of the room came Goro Hyoudou.

A man with untidy hair similar to Issei's own, and with a pair of glasses on his face, he looked entirely normal. He blinked in surprise at the two others accompanying his son, turning to Hana with a raised eyebrow.

Needlessly, she took him aside for a few moments and explained the situation to him. In record time, he walked up to Trent and Josh and clapped them on the shoulders.

"Thank you for keeping my boy safe! I can't think of higher thanks to give you two!" Goro exclaimed. "Please, feel free to stay here until your arrangements are made!"

Trent nodded, and gave a short bow, "Thank you very much sir, hopefully we won't be in your hair for too long. We'd hate to abuse your hospitality."

"Nonsense, the two of you saved Issei's life, letting the two of you stay with us for a while is the least we can do," Goro replied, a resolute look on his face.

The blond honestly felt sort of bad about lying to them about the situation that they'd saved Issei from, but felt that it would be better to keep them out of the supernatural. Instead of saying any of that, he spoke, "Thank you again then sir, I'm Trent and my friend here is Josh."

"It's nice to meet you as well," Josh said with a smile. "Thank you very much."

Goro laughed, "It's quite alright. Any friend of Issei is a friend of ours! I'm sure we have a spare room or two upstairs. Follow me."

The older man walked up the stairs, followed by the two young men. It wasn't an especially long journey, but due to how unfamiliar the place was, to Josh it seemed to take minutes.

"That's Issei's room there, at the end near the window," Goro pointed it out. "Across it is mine and Hana's room, in case you need help with anything. In here's the guest room, if I remember right."

Just across from the bathroom, Goro opened the door to another room. It was quite bare, with only two spaces for beds and a window at the side. But it seemed homely.

"I'm sorry for the lack of furnishing," The Hyoudou patriarch apologised. "We haven't had guests over in some time. Give me a few minutes to get out pillows and blankets."

"That's fine, Mr Hyoudou," Josh replied, bowing in respect. "Sorry that we're intruding."

"This is more than enough, sir," Trent concurred, following Josh's lead and giving another bow. "And yes, we're sorry for intruding."

{~}{~}

Sitting in the guest room after dinner, The three young men were in discussion. Issei looked between them as he spoke, "So you guys think I should look into other factions rather than just joining Gremory-sempai? Most people would give their left nut to be able to hang out with her a lot!"

"It's a matter of keeping your options open. I'm not saying don't join them eventually if that's what you decide to do, but don't just dive in without considering your options," Trent answered with a shrug. "It's part of why I turned Gremory and Sitri down myself."

"Oh…" Issei muttered as he fell into thought. "I remember that my childhood friend's family was Christian, and that his dad worked for the Church or something…"

"That'd probably be a good place to start," Josh interjected, leaning his head into his hand. "Start with what you know. Do you still have his contact info?"

"Um, not too sure honestly," Issei admitted. "It's been years since they moved and we didn't really keep in contact all that much. But my dad might still have their number- he's really good at that sort of thing."

"You should talk to him then in the morning," Josh yawned. "No point in starting tonight anyway, given the stuff that happened."

"Yeah, get some sleep kid. The world's gonna be a lot more everything tomorrow than it was yesterday," Trent said before walking over to clap the teen on the shoulder. "Seriously though, if you have trouble dealing with what happened with Raynare, I'm available to talk."

Issei looked a bit conflicted, but eventually nodded, "Right, thanks. Night!"

With that, the young man all but bolted from the room.

Things had only just begun, but Trent couldn't shake the feeling that something was already going wrong.

Josh eyed his partner. "You've got the same feeling? That something's… going different already?"

The Irishman stretched out onto his bed, pulling out his Class Card, looking at it idly. "Yeah… it's been a while since I watched or read DxD, but something's nagging at the back of my head."

He eyed the knight holding the sword on the Card, before putting it down briefly and turning back to Trent.

"Can't be helped, we're going to cause waves no matter what happens, and with us saving Issei…" The blonde trailed off, the implication hanging in the air. Things had already changed, and neither of them knew how far the ripples would reach.

Josh said nothing, only continuing to hold his Card. After a moment, he stood up and held it before him. If things were going to get even more chaotic, he couldn't afford to be lazy like he normally would be. So...

"Well if that's the case, might as well try this," He said to himself, breathing in and out. "Right… Include!"

In a flash of light, a katana appeared in his hand. It was a normal katana from the looks of it- clad in a dark scabbard, and a standard tsuba. But something about it beckoned to the Irishman.

With a flourish, he removed the blade from its scabbard, inspecting it closely.

Light reflected off of the steel like it was cutting the very night itself. The edge was hard and sharp, fitting of such a weapon.

"So I've got Okita Souji in my Class Card," Josh muttered. "Not too sure if that's bad or not."

"Depends on if it comes with tuberculosis," Trent opined as he studied the other man's Include. "Seriously though, that could be bad for us."

Having his friend hacking up a lung in the middle of a battle would be kind of terrible.

"Mmm…" Josh hummed.

Grasping the sword with both hands in the stance he knew Okita had held it, something resonated inside him. His stomach was churning, but not uncomfortably so- rather, the feeling of something being 'right'.

He jabbed it forward lightly. The next moment, the air itself was cut in two in a light speed motion. Even though he was holding the sword, Josh looked at it dumbly- he hadn't even seen its trajectory or movement.

Was that Okita Souji's power?

"That's… fast, haha," He admitted with a smile. "It's going to be good for close quarters anyway."

He released the Include and the Card fell into his hand again. Josh placed it in his pocket, before lying back down, the uncomfortable feeling gone.

"That was pretty good, should be damn useful in battle," Trent opined, nodding with a pleased look on his face. It shifted to displeasure instantly though, "But seriously, let's avoid using the superpowers indoors if we can."

"Yeah, it'd be poor of us to damage Issei's home after all," Josh admitted. Placing his head against his pillow, he closed his eyes. "Well, seeya in the morning Trent."

Sitting down on his bed, Trent nodded as he settled in to wait out his insomnia, "Good night dude."


	4. Chapter 4

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**  
 **Chapter 4**

-X-X-X-X-

"Good morning Trent, how was your slee- oh my," The Hyoudou matron exclaimed as she looked up at the Canadian. He had bags under his eyes and looked more than a bit like death warmed over.

The blonde just yawned, "It was okay, and don't mind my appearance. Just a bit of insomnia kept me awake."

"I see, do you want some coffee with breakfast then?" She asked as she went back to bustling about the kitchen. "Just take a seat and I'll bring some food over to you."

Trent nodded gratefully, "That would be wonderful, thank you. And thank you again for agreeing to host us."

A groan echoed from the spare room. Soon enough, Josh emerged from it yawning mightily. His hair was messy and he had bags under his eyes too, but overall he looked rested.

"God, I hate waking up at whatever time it is," He mumbled as he sat beside Trent. "I like my sleep dammit."

"Would you like a cup of coffee as well?" Hana asked the Irishman. "It seems you need it."

"Ye-sss, please," Josh answered, yawning again. "That would be really good. Been a while since I had coffee though."

He rested his head on the table briefly, before rubbing his eyes rigorously and looking up at Trent.

"So, what do we do today?" He asked his companion, sitting up against the chair normally.

The blond adjusted his glasses as he answered, "See to the meeting we've set up in regards to our residence and jobs. We can't freeload off the Hyoudou's forever."

He raked a hand through his hair, "At least we've got that set up, other than that I don't have much planned. You?"

"Me neither honestly," Josh admitted. "I kinda just wanna nap, but I'm up for walking around the town. Maybe have a bit more of a look at the Academy."

It was a prime setting for DxD after all, plus it was nearby- so it'd make sense to scout it out just a bit. It seemed huge for a school, though nothing like his secondary if Josh could tell.

But, privately and with a somewhat guilty conscience, he admitted he just wanted to see Sona again, even for a few moments.

"Yeah, yeah," He coughed into his hand. "I gotta get used to using the Class Card too- Include's all well and good, but the bulk's in Install."

And if he were to truly fight in this world, knowing Install in and out would be the best thing he could do. As well as learning Okita's fighting style and techniques, he'd be able to learn how to fight without it.

Something switched on inside his head at that thought however.

"Hey," He whispered to Trent, making sure Mrs Hyoudou wasn't coming back yet. "Sirzechs… his Knight is Okita, right?"

Rather than answer immediately, the Canuck paused to think before letting out a wheeze of laughter, "Heck yeah he is. That's gonna be fun to explain. Dibs not it."

He took a moment to compose himself, "Though you are right, we should familiarize ourselves with the town if we're going to be staying here for the foreseeable future." Seeing Hana returning he asked, "Missus Hyoudou, do you have any recommendations for places that we should check out when we walk around town?"

"Hmm, there are a few places…" The woman answered as she put down mugs in front of both the young men. "Well, there's the central shopping district and the mall…"

"We could do with a bit of a stash," Josh said to Trent. "If we're gonna be staying here for a good while."

"There's also an abandoned Church out on the outskirts," Hana continued, hand on her chin. "It used to be quite popular, but there wasn't enough money to refurbish it and it fell to ruin. Quite a shame really- it's in a beautiful location."

The hairs on Josh's neck stood on edge. That Church was probably the one where Raynare was holed up right now, along with her lackies- call him crazy, but staying away from there was the best course of action. The Irishman liked having his head on his shoulders.

Soon enough Mrs Hyoudou brought out a traditional Japanese breakfast- what it exactly was, Josh couldn't tell, but he ate it gratefully. It'd been a while since he'd had anything to eat, so the warm food was very welcome.

"Say, where's Issei?" He asked as he downed the meal. "Wouldn't he be up by now, since I think it's a school day?"

"Well, his alarm should be going off soon, but if he isn't down in fifteen minutes I'll have to go up and knock on his door," Hana replied as she bustled back into the kitchen. "Goro's already headed out to the office for the day, apparently they've got a big deadline coming up."

Trent, having been nursing his coffee, spoke up, "Well, Josh and I'll definitely have to check out the mall and such, though I dunno if we'll get around to the Church. I might be able to appreciate the architecture, but I was never big on it as a subject."

The blond quietly dug into his breakfast, seemingly more intent on just shovelling it away rather than tasting the food. It was tasty enough in his opinion, but he was never much of a morning person.

Josh was content eating too, quietly devouring the meal. Eventually it was done and he sat back in appreciation.

"That was lovely Mrs Hyoudou, very delicious," He said with a smile. "It's the best I've had in ages."

"Thank you for the compliment, Josh," Hana replied, chuckling in satisfaction. "It's been some time since we entertained guests, so new praise is hard to come by."

An alarm went off upstairs, probably from Issei's room. Josh sharpened his ear towards the sound. For a moment, to him, it sounded like… a girl? He couldn't quite make out the lines, but the tone was suggestive and-oh.

Ohhhhhhhh.

Josh slapped his face in irritation. Was that really Issei's alarm clock? Goddammit!

"Oh god…" Trent muttered, even as he finished his own meal. How could he have forgotten Issei's alarm clock? It was basically a top tier shitpost all on its own.

Rather than focus on that, he spoke, "Thank you for the meal Missus Hyoudou, it was delicious."

"Wonderful, and from the sounds of it, Issei should be up soon," She answered from the kitchen. "Are the two of you going to leave in the morning with him?"

"I think so, and hopefully we'll have been set up in our new residence this evening so we can get out of your hair," Trent called back, leaning back in his chair to enjoy what remained of his coffee.

"Yeah, it's been nice being here though," Josh said as well. "It'd be nice to call around again every now and then."

After a few minutes the suggestive alarm didn't stop, causing the Irishman to rub his face in frustration again. Eventually, Hana sighed and walked up the stairs again, as if she had to do this every morning.

Josh turned an eye to Trent, drinking his coffee at a fast pace. "Should we go now and spare ourselves the trouble, or wait for the guy?"

"He dug this grave, I say we skedaddle and leave him to lie in it," The blond answered as he gulped the last of his coffee down.

Standing from the table, he called out, "Missus Hyoudou, Josh and I think that we're going to get an early start on the day. So we're going to head out, thank you for everything!"

With that he quickly shuffled into the kitchen to deposit his dishes by the sink and trotted back to the front hall. The matron of the Hyoudou house called back, "Alright, you two take care out there!"

With a last goodbye, the two men exited the house. It was a bright morning with barely any cloud, which Josh was thankful for. For a moment he soaked in the rays, eyes closed and listening to any sound.

Birds chirping, people talking, anything. It was… profoundly calming.

He opened his eyes and began walking with Trent at his side.

It was still a distance away to the Academy, but now that they weren't in mortal danger Josh found it easier to appreciate the town. He saw happy couples talking, people shaking hands, along with pets. It was bliss.

Then as they neared the school, his eyes locked on a scene.

A father was tending to his son, who had a bruise on his knee. The kid cried like any child would, until his father gave him a kiss and tugged him onto his shoulders protectively. It was...

Josh's smile thinned out into a straight line and he pushed his pace faster.

"Let's get going, we're almost there," He said irritably, folding his collar up.

He didn't need those memories right now.

Noting the scene and the effect it had on his companion, Trent simply kept it to himself. It wasn't his place to pry, and if Josh wanted to talk about it then he would.

Walking into the Academy, he noticed the odd looks they were garnering from the various students, but simply ignored them. If they had problems then they could speak up, or keep their mouths shut.

He ended up dodging the main schoolhouse and headed for the ORC, as that had been the agreed meeting place. In front of it stood a buxom young woman, her raven hair done up in a ponytail and her mouth set in a vaguely unsettling smile. When she caught sight of the duo, she spoke up, "Good morning, you are the two who have a meeting with Buchou and Kaichou, correct?"

"That's us, I'm Trent and this lad is Josh," The Canuck answered, gesturing at his companion.

"Nice to meet you," Josh added, waving to the very attractive girl. "Umm...what's your name?"

The girl giggled at his cluelessness, folding her arms behind her back and causing her chest to very _deliberately_ pop out forward. Josh tried to ignore the sight, focusing on her lovely face, but they were just at the edge of his vision.

Goddammit, why was this happening now?

"My name is Akeno," She replied, her smile widening. "And don't worry- everybody stares. The attention is very nice. Now, follow me~"

In another deliberate, sensual motion she pivoted on her foot and began guiding them to the meeting, swinging her lower half back and forth sensually, giving the two a good look at her ass.

Josh turned to Trent, gulping down the apple in his throat. "I'm scared all of a sudden, Trent."

"Eh, it's fine, it's _fine_ ," The blonde answered as he followed after the young lady, making a point to keep his eyes on the back of her head. Professional, they had to be professional. Why did Akeno have to try and make this difficult for them?

Inside the room, Sona and Rias were both seated on the same couch they had been the previous evening. Behind Sona stood a tall young lady, clad in the same uniform as her and wearing glasses, though she wore her hair long.

Akeno bustled quickly to take a similar position behind Rias, while gesturing for the duo to take a seat on one of the empty couches.

Trent did so, and made sure to nod to the two Kings and the young lady at Sona's back, "Miss Gremory, Miss Sitri, it's good to see you again. And though Akeno has introduced herself, and I'm sure you've told the members of your Peerages about us, I'm Trent."

"I'm Josh too," The brunette said enthusiastically, taking his seat as well. "Very nice to meet you again."

For a moment, he contemplated kicking himself in the ass. Sona was eying him weirdly, as if he was a creep or a strange oddity. Josh bit his lip a bit: this was always how it was, when he was talking with a girl he somewhat liked- he'd be overly enthusiastic or wanting to get to know them, and end up screwing himself over.

He'd forgotten that the people in front of him were actual people, too: not just hand-drawn characters or made up of words. The Irishman would have to remind himself of that fact.

"It's nice to see you two are well rested and unharmed," Rias smiled. "On the topic you raised yesterday, we have the necessary documents compiled here."

With a gesture, the girl at Sona's back placed a heavy manilla folder on the coffee table. It had Japanese kanji on the front, but the picture of an apartment was clipped to the front.

"All the documentation you need for your lodgings, along with money and bank accounts," Sona continued systematically, pushing her glasses further up her nose. "With this, you'll be able to live life in Kuoh relatively in peace."

Josh impulsively made to open the folder, only to stop at the cold look Sona was giving him. Reluctantly, he withdrew his hand, annoyed with his bad first impressions again.

Taking a moment to pat Josh on the shoulder, Trent looked between the two devils, "Now comes the matter of payment. I'm sure the two of you have your own ideas on what you would like from us, so please tell us those so that we might negotiate."

"Of course," Sona agreed, looking between the two. "Both Rias and I have space within our Peerages. Ideally, we'd ask that both of you join our Peerages, with one of you going to each of us."

Smiling, the Canuck replied, "I'm sorry, but both of us are rather intent on retaining our humanity, so we'll have to decline that price. How about the right to call on us for aid during combat situations here in Kuoh, as well as an agreement to help all of you in combat training. On top of that, how about three favours from both Josh and I, with the caveat that they not be for us to enter our Peerages?"

Rias made a thoughtful noise before turning to Sona and discussing with her quietly.

Josh rubbed his mouth thoughtfully before adding his own thoughts. "Yeah… I don't want to join your Peerages. I know you girls are probably really kind, but I like being human. I'm not giving it up for anything."

For a moment, Sona looked towards him from discussing with Rias. Her eyes cut into his own like before, but Josh merely steeled his own glance. Narrowing his own eyes, disregarding his feelings, he concentrated on making his stance apparent.

For a long moment they stayed like that, until Sona talked to Rias again for a short while. She sighed and removed her glasses from her face, cleaning them with a cloth.

"That seems fair of you two, absurdly so," She admitted, placing her glasses on her face again. "Three favours is powerful leverage, as is combat training. What would you do if we made you do things that… went against your moral code?"

Josh made a noise in the back of his throat, coughing.

"I'd tell you to screw yourself, actually," He admitted bluntly. "And I'd probably say fuck it and just run. I'm not going to make myself a monster for three favours, even if you guys are giving us important resources."

It was likely Sona was testing them yes, given her natural character from the light novels, but even if she weren't, Josh's answer would be the exact same. He was willing to do favours and to do other things to help people, but damning himself by monstrous deeds?

Never. _Never_.

For his part, Trent just shrugged.

"There are certain things that I'll never compromise on, like keeping kids safe, but for the most part my morals are like Queen Medb. Loose and easily compromised," The blond chuckled at his own joke, noting the scandalized look that passed over Sona's face and the quirking of Rias' lips. "But yeah, that's my answer. It'd be hard for you to find something I wouldn't be willing to do."

For a good long moment, both Rias and Sona looked at the two. Eventually, Rias chuckled slightly, Akeno quirking her lips too.

"You two are amusing and interesting," She admitted. "Well, for my part I accept the terms."

"Myself as well," Sona said, after a moment's pause. "Our Peerages are relatively inexperienced, so training is welcomed. I take it you have methods of fighting and keeping up with Devils?"

Josh's finger ghosted over the Class Card in his pocket. It burned warmly again, but the sensation went away quickly. Was Okita, inside the Class Card, anticipating a fight? Given her personality, he wouldn't bet against it.

"Yeah, pretty sure we do," The Irishman replied. "What time and day do you want training to start?"

Trent nodded, "We do indeed have our own ways of keeping up with the Supernatural, though I'll have to limit myself a bit while working with you guys due to the nature of my powers. And as a caveat, do you think you could at least give us a day to get set up in the city before we start the training?"

"I have no issues with that, will you two need any help with that?" Rias replied, looking between the duo.

The blond took a moment to think, "I don't believe so, what do you think Josh?"

The Irishman shook his head. "Yeah, we'll be fine to take care of ourselves. We don't have much, see."

To illustrate his point, the brunette shook his leather jacket- all that could be heard was the rustling of the material and of cloth. Akeno smiled at his jest, while Sona quirked an eyebrow as did her assistant.

"Very well," She said at last, standing up. "This meeting is concluded for now- send us word when you're set up."

"Of course," Josh nodded. "It'd be rude to do otherwise."

Sona eyed him curiously again, before walking out of the room with her Queen. The Irishman's eyes were glued to the Sitri heir, until there was a cough in front of him. Darting his head, he saw that Rias was smiling at him.

"You know, the way you look at her it's almost as if, well, you know," She teased, causing Josh's blush to ignite. "It might be cruel to say, but you probably won't make much headway. She only takes an interest in people who beat her in chess."

The Irishman's chest felt like it'd been used as a punching bag, all the air wheezing out. He sighed deeply.

"Right, I figured," Josh grumbled, grabbing the folder from the table hastily. "There always seems to be a damn catch for me."

He proceeded out of the room, sighing and cursing his naivete.

Looking at Rias and Akeno, Trent shrugged, "Sorry about him, he's a bit… on edge."

To be honest, so was he, though he seemed to be better at hiding it.

"It's perfectly alright, please take care and let us know if you have any trouble with the Fallen again," Rias answered with a smile.

For her part, Akeno shrugged, "It seems like he'll be fun to tease, at least."

"Ah, to have found a kindred spirit here…" Trent trailed off with a chuckle before nodding to both of them. "I should go, thank you for all of this."

Stepping out and trotting after Josh, he spoke up as he caught up to the Irishman, "Normally I'd make a joke about broadcasting as hard as you've been, but I think you don't need it at this point. You wanna just head to the apartment and figure out our financial situation?"

"Yeah, that'd be much appreciated," Josh snapped tightly, before slowing down and sighing. "Sorry… it's just that it seems no matter where I go, I have crap luck with anything. I shouldn't be expecting anything else really."

Working out the financial situation would be a good distraction from the whole reminder that the Irishman really did seem to have no luck with women. He remembered how his secondary school friends had had multiple girlfriends in even one year, while he never had any, even up to now. It was wrong to be jealous, but God did it feel nice to admit to the feeling.

With resignation in his chest, he admitted the same truth he knew ages ago: he just wasn't meant to have a lucky break.

"So!" Josh exclaimed, distracting himself from his thoughts. "Do you think Issei's called Irina yet? I wonder what they'd talk about."

They passed through the grounds, students walking about. Some of them were the same from earlier, eying them weirdly, but others just ignored them. At the moment, Josh was happy of being ignored.

Trent eyed Josh for a moment before shaking his head, "I dunno if has yet. And probably the kid being flabbergasted that Shidou's a girl. He forgot about that fact, which'll be funny for us. She'll also be glad that he didn't become a diablo."

The canuck considered it for a moment, even as he shrugged off the stares from around them. After a moment, he sighed.

"Listen Josh, about the thing with Sitri… don't get too down on yourself, especially not just yet. You literally just met her yesterday, stuff like proper relationships take time," He advised.

"I know that _logically_ ," Josh admitted to his friend, looking up into the sky. "I've just had a shit few years, so I thought I was overdue for some good luck. Ahh, I'm being pathetic anyway."

They continued on their way, walking past students and out the gate to the school. Josh wasn't sure where Issei was right now, but probably off ogling changing girls. And as if on cue, there was a high-pitched shriek at the other end of the school, followed by a loud SMACK.

He quirked his lips into a smile. "Wanna bet that he's over there?"

Looking in the direction of the noise, Trent grimaced.

These halcyon days were a good place to start… but they wouldn't remain. Best for them to enjoy them before everything kicked off.

"No bet, I ain't that big a sucker."


	5. Chapter 5

**DxD: GUDAxGUDA**

 **Chapter 5**

-X-X-X-X-

With a staggering yawn and in a haze of sleep, Josh got out of his new bed. Moving sluggishly, his hands slipped from the door knob to his room several times before he got a good grasp on it.

"Finally, dammit…" He muttered to himself, exiting his room, looking back for a moment.

Just as the two Devils had promised, the apartment was satisfactory so far. The rooms were a bit bare of course- he and Trent hadn't gone furniture shopping yet- but it was comfortable enough.

Closing his door he walked into the open kitchen and, taking a hold of the curtains hanging from the side and opened them with a flourish. He bit back a curse as the light stung his eyes, forcing him to rub them.

"This is just not my morning…" He mumbled forlornly.

"Apparently not," Trent agreed from the table he was sitting at, a mug of coffee in one hand and a slice of toast in the other. "Coffee's ready if you hadn't noticed."

The older man hadn't had a lot of luck getting a full night's of sleep, his insomnia and discomfort with the new environment causing him to be awake for most of the night. So, he turned to coffee, hoping the caffeine would at least power him through the day.

He rolled his shoulders to shed some discomfort and shoved the slice of toast into his mouth, and then spoke, "Main thing we have to do is get this place ready, yeah? Other than that I figure we can let the Hyoudous know that we're all good. Anything you want to take care of?"

Josh's lips tightened a bit, fiddling with the coffee machine. He'd spent part of the night up just… [i]thinking[/i], mainly. About this whole crazy situation, and the thing from yesterday too, fiddling with the Class Card in his hand.

"I think we need to work on our Class Cards," Josh said at last. "You've already Installed, but I haven't: it's important to figure out if Okita's weird Skill's gonna affect me in anyway."

Learning how to fight with her style would also prove a good distraction, the Irishman decided.

He poured himself some coffee and sat down opposite Trent, gently sipping it.

"Fair, fair. And honestly, I should see if I can still Install or if I'll have to rely on Include myself. I panicked when I did, so I dunno if it'll work again," The blond nodded, taking a deep swig of his coffee. Grimacing a bit at the flavour, he decided that they should see about getting some better beans.

With a moment's thought, he quaffed what was left in his mug and stood from the table, depositing his dishes by the sink. After grabbing a glass from the cabinet, he moved to the fridge and poured himself a glass of orange juice.

Looking back at his new roommate he asked, "Dude, do you want to talk about the whole thing with Sona?"

Did he want to talk about it? That was the million dollar question. Josh sipped at his coffee timidly, thinking.

On one hand, he liked dealing with these things himself. But on the other, if life had taught him anything, talking with people helped a lot. Yet, something was holding him back from really talking to Trent: he liked the guy, but it was… like a claw was clasped around his chest.

He'd felt it before, of course, but it was still uncomfortable.

With a noncommittal sigh, he nodded. "Sure, might as well."

He looked up at the ceiling before looking back at his roommate, words failing to come to him for a few moments.

"Look, I know I really shouldn't have gotten that attached this early," He admitted reluctantly. "In this sort of situation, survival's far better than… relationships. I dunno: I just seem to make people uncomfortable."

It was a bitter truth. For a long time he'd shied from the social game of meet and greets- it was only recently he was building his life back up. But even despite the progress he'd made, Josh kept wondering whenever he made a joke or said something.

Was he making people uncomfortable?

"It's just how I am I guess," Josh laughed bitterly. "I just seem to be the most unlucky guy all the time for a few years. I keep building myself up for disappointment."

"I mean, I can't say that I don't understand being into someone and getting shot down," Trent replied, scrubbing a hand through his hair.

Leaning back against the counter, Trent sipped at his juice, enjoying the fact that the taste washed away the aftertaste of the cheap coffee. He wasn't lying about that either, he'd been shot down before.

"You just broadcasted a bit too hard," The blond continued, thinking back on his own experiences. "I did something similar when I was into a girl once, and she turned me down as well. As for the whole making people uncomfortable…"

He trailed off there, thinking about all the times he'd scared people off unintentionally with his resting glower or how he defaulted to a neutral state that made people uncomfortable.

Laughing at his own issues, "Well, it's something that I've done before as well. And in terms of misfortune… well, you just met her, things like relationships take time. Unless you really just wanted to take her to Poundtown because she was your type." Trent shot a grin at his friend, trying to cheer him up with that last part.

Josh couldn't help it, he laughed just a bit. "That… was a pretty damn good joke. You the major I imagine?"

Trent's words were wisdom, he admitted too as he drank his coffee. Relationships do take time, and he'd forgotten behind childish glee how demanding Sona could be in courtships: he wouldn't make that mistake again at least.

He still needed to think on things, but… the picture was clearer now.

"You're right though- things take time at least," Josh replied. "But goddamn it's gonna be awkward later."

"I'm the _Founder_ of Poundtown, thank you very much," The blond sniffed self importantly, but broke the facade almost immediately. "Eh, it might be awkward, but just try and be professional around her for now."

Slurping the last of his juice, Trent joked, "Just make sure I don't have to shake you down for any stolen cradles, mmkay?"

Josh flipped the bird at his friend. "Fuck you, you're into NTR. Your argument is invalid!"

"Oi! I'm _attracted_ to Grayfia, I'm not gonna go out of my way to destroy the beautiful relationship she has with Sirzechs," Trent called back, his face flushing with rage. "Miss me with that NTR shit."

{~}{~}

The blond looked down at the card in his hand, the forest around him echoing with the sounds of birds and the occasional breeze.

The archer on the face almost looked like she was questioning him and whether he was going to go through with his training. He rubbed the card with his thumb as he braced himself.

"Include!" With that he was blinded momentarily, a weight settled on his hips, and head. Nobunaga's hat and belted sword now adorned him, and as he held his hand out before him, a gun appeared in it.

"Nice one," Josh whistled, fingering his own Class Card.

Stepping away from the blond, he held up his own Class Card. The Saber with the heaven-pointed sword…

He took a deep breath, letting the warmth of the Card spread through his hand. "Include!"

The Card disappeared, and in its place was Okita's katana. Taking a hold of it, Josh unsheathed it as if he'd been using it for years.

"Hmm, that should be it, right?" He asked Trent, looking at his blade.

The blond shrugged as he looked down at the gun in his hand, "Pretty sure, though I'll admit to not being too familiar with Class Cards. Prillya was a bit too close to loli hentai for my tastes."

Hefting the gun and aiming it into the trees, he knew he could shoot down a bird trilling away…

"Though I'll need to find a way to get my hands on a gun that shoots rubber bullets or something, as I can't really use these ones when we train with the Devils. Don't want to kill anyone," Trent remarked as he dismissed the weapon in a shower of particles.

"Fair enough," Josh nodded. "It'd be a bit of a damper on the point of it."

Uncomfortable feelings resurfaced inside his chest, but this time the Irishman forced them down into a locked vault. They weren't needed for this, and he didn't need distraction.

He eyed a tree near them. It was medium sized, thick with many leaves. Without a word he walked over to it, standing in front of the great wood and shifted into a stance slowly as if he could barely recall them.

"Was it like this...no, it was more this." He muttered to himself, falling into Okita's instincts.

Even just as an Include, he thought he could hear a 'voice' coming from the remnants of the Card, telling him what to do. So he obeyed it.

He spread his feet apart, right in front of the left. He gripped the close to the katana's _tsuba_ with his left arm and let his right hand brush over the end of the hilt. Josh gritted his teeth as he focused, slowly shifting his stance bit by bit.

Soon he stood in a complete replication of Okita's own stance from the game. Even then, frustration bloomed inside the Irishman: even if it was a convincing replica, _something was missing from it._ A vital part, a component of its essence.

But for now, it'd be enough.

Trent focused, and then released a pressure that welled up in him, and a wave of guns appeared before him. All of them were aimed into the forest and he knew that he could have them fire without even twitching his finger.

He released them though, allowing them to disappear rather than fire their payload.

There was something else though, something he couldn't quite reach.

Perhaps Nobunaga's Reality Marble or something like that?

Considering his weapons…

"Do you even want to try sparring or anything, or do you just want to quit after we finish experimenting with the Includes?" He asked as he dismissed the thought as something to be dealt with later.

Josh thought on it, not leaving his stance. In fact, doing this sort of exercise helped calm him down. Ice seemed to spread inside his chest, halting all unnecessary motions.

It was _liberating._

"Probably quit," He said absentmindedly. "No use fighting yet, when we don't know what we're capable of."

Josh focused once more on a particular part of the bark. Immediately his senses honed in on it even further than before: he could _see_ it, and knew where to strike and move. The zen imposed over his head solidified-

He _moved-_

His sword _flashed-_

Josh disappeared in a flash, reappearing on the other side of the tree. Taking a moment to rub his head from the sudden ache, he turned around and the Irishman's eyes widened.

Deep into the tree's body, three gashes were engraved into it. Pieces of bark fluttered in the mild wind, and leaves littered the ground.

Then, all of a sudden, the tree fell to the ground with a resounding, echoing _thud._

The sound smashed his eardrums. Josh covered them briefly, coughing from a burning in his chest, before straightening himself.

"That was…" He coughed again. "Something, eh?"

Looking at the fallen tree, the uprooted earth and the fluttering pieces of bark, Josh wondered… would he even be able to improve on this? This was already so powerful, so strong!

It was almost intoxicating he realised, as he sheathed his sword in awe and pride.

Trent eyed the fallen tree… it seemed in line with what Okita could do, at least from what he could remember.

Rather than trying to match Josh's display and get the police more riled up with his gunnery, he nodded.

"It definitely is, and it should be a great help in the future," The blond opined, considering his own chances in the future. "You gonna get Sirzechs' Okita to lend you hand in the future?"

Josh leaned against another tree, deep in thought.

Fundamentally, Okita from Fate and Okita from DxD should fight the same. He remembered reading that Okita Souji was famous for his sword style. Even if the genders were changed, it wouldn't make sense for them to _not_ at least fight in similar ways.

So maybe by fighting or training with Sirzech's Okita, his prowess would increase _even faster._

Josh smiled a bit. This reminded him a bit of Shirou and EMIYA's situation, if his hunch was right. Fairly amusing, really.

"Yeah, probably am if it comes up," He replied, his chest feeling better. "Otherwise, gonna try a few experiments myself."

"Go for it, though I might have to see if there's a Roanapur equivalent in this universe if I'm gonna be training with Sitri and Gremory's Peerages. Even shooting them with regular bullets would be better than using these," Trent replied as he made another pair of guns, moving through some aiming poses.

Then, he flipped one up and around, the grabbing it by the barrel and using it as a makeshift bludgeon. It would be possible, but not optimal.

Maybe he could just launch the guns at people?

Though on the downside he'd give them weapons if they weren't knocked out or killed.

"Gate of Babylon, Trent," Josh advised with a wry smile. "Take a page out of Gil's books."

It was more a joke suggestion than anything really: Nobu's Noble Phantasm worked different to the Gate and had a different concept, but the similarities were quite interesting.

The blond shrugged, "It'd be fun to do, I'll admit. Though honestly, I'm going to try and work further towards include and using Nobu's Reality Marble. You?"

It was honest curiosity, really.

Trent could only really work towards those things, other than trying to invent some sort of shitty gun kata. Whereas Josh… Josh had an entire school of swordsmanship to discover and learn.

He couldn't help but be a bit jealous.

Josh said nothing for a moment, only looking at his blade. "...There's a lot I need to learn about fighting like Okita. I'm focusing on that for now myself."

Unlike Trent, who'd be able to barrage people from a distance, his only option was to engage in close quarters combat. At this point in DxD? That was manageable- just a few Fallen and Rogue Exorcists to take care of.

But later? When the real monsters started showing up?

He'd need to be prepared.

With a sigh and the pounding of a headache beginning, Josh wordlessly released his sword. In a shine of light it reverted back to the Class Card form, and he pocketed it after a moment.

He looked at Trent. "Hmm… is there anything else we need to do today?"

Allowing his own power to revert to Card form, the Canuck shrugged, "Well, we've trained, gone shopping… have we told the Hyoudous about or new digs? I figure it'd be a good idea to tell them about it, and if Issei knew where we're based…"

Trent trailed off there, thinking on the implications of the whole thing.

While letting Issei know where they lived would mean that he might try and bond with them over porn, there _were_ upsides… "Well, he'd be able to come to us if he needed help, or if something came up. Anything that you can think of?"

Josh shook his head. "Not at the minute, but talking to the Hyoudous would be nice- they helped after all."

He made a face, grimacing. "Then again, Issei's a bit off-putting at times."

It was the truth to him at least. Whilst he knew Issei was a good kid, someone with his heart in the right place, his habits were a bit creepy. But from what the Irishman knew so far, Asia hadn't appeared yet- from his recollections, she'd been the catalyst for his development that way.

"Yeah, we might as well tell the Hyoudous," Josh agreed after a few minutes. "Why not, y'know?"

"It'd only be polite," Trent agreed with a nod. "And as for Issei, well, he'll get better."

{~}{~}

Trekking back the Hyoudous' home had taken some time, but they'd managed while enough. Knocking on the door, they were greeted by Hana. "Oh, Trent, Josh, how are the two of you doing? We were wondering if something happened to the two of you last night?"

"We're quite well, Missus Hyoudou," Trent replied jovially. "As for where were, well, everything came through on our apartment, so we ended up heading there."

"My, that's good to hear! Would the two of you care to come in for some tea or coffee? Goro isn't home yet, but Issei is," The kindly woman offered, a smile on her face.

"Yes please Mrs Hyoudou, that'd be nice," Josh replied, smiling.

The Hyoudou mother led them into the house once more, bringing them to the small kitchen. For a few minutes she put together cups of tea for the two foreigners, using leaves and boiled water. When she was done, Hana placed the cups proudly in front of the two.

Josh peered into it: the broth wasn't black like the tea he was used to. It was more green, frothing a bit comfortably. Was it green tea?

"Please, enjoy," Hana said pleasantly, sipping at her own cup.

After a moment Josh did the same and almost whistled out loud. It wasn't as bitter as the tea or coffee he knew from before, but… it tasted natural in its own way. The tea was greatly refreshing.

"Ah, this is very nice Mrs Hyoudou!" The Irishman complimented, taking more sips. "This is pretty good tea!"

Not being a tea person in any way shape or form, Trent simply slugged back a quick gulp, settling for enjoying the burn as it went down. The aftertaste wasn't too bad, but even he could tell that he wouldn't have enjoyed trying to sip at the drink like the offer two.

Taking a moment to make it seem like he was taking longer with the drink than he actually was, he eventually put down his cup.

Trying to look as casual as possible, he spoke, "The tea is lovely, Missus Hyoudou, thank you."

"Wonderful," The matron declared, though the blond got the feeling that she'd cottoned onto his distaste for tea. "Actually, the two of you missed it earlier, but Issei was all up in a tizzy earlier!"

"Really?" Josh asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Hana giggled a little to herself before leaning in. "Well, he got in contact with an old childhood friend of his, from years ago. The family moved away, but Goro kept their contact information."

Josh smiled in amusement as Hana tried to stifle her good-natured giggles a bit.

"Anyway, he was under the impression that his friend was a boy all this time, but after he called them he screamed so loud," Hana continued. "I went to see what was going on, but all he told me was 'Shido was a girl?!'"

The Irishman laughed at the mental picture. Issei suddenly speaking on the phone and then erupting with a beet-red face of confusion and bafflement. The laugh rose right from his stomach- it was just what he needed.

"And I told him 'of course she was a girl, Issei- wasn't it obvious?' But he just locked himself in his room, muttering," Hana finished, sipping more at her drink. "I had no idea my son had had that misconception. How is something I really don't know."

"Honestly, I'd put it down to childish ignorance," Trent opined before quaffing the rest of his tea. He'd have given a lot to see Issei flipping out over finding out that little tidbit.

And hopefully, this would light a fire under his ass about getting stronger.

A sufficiently motivated Red Dragon Emperor would be quite the boon to have around after all.

Returning the tea to the saucer, the blond asked, "Would you mind if we went up and talked to him?"

"Oh no, not at all. I'm sure he'll tell you all about the whole thing," Hana laughed, clearly having found Issei's reaction to Irina's gender quite amusing.

With that said Josh and Trent walked up the stairs, following from memory the way to Issei's room. Even as they rounded to the top of the stairs, they could hear muttering from Issei's room, along with the sounds of something being pressed- a game console?

Josh raised an eyebrow at the sound. Was… was Issei drowning his denial by playing games? Honestly, that was a bit over the top even for him- but given everything, it might not be entirely uncalled for.

"Hey Trent," He turned to his friend. "Issei hasn't been broken by this, has he?"

"I doubt it," The blond opined, as he listened to the muttering.

Well, it was somewhat worrying to hear the young man muttering like this, but he was sure it would be fine.

After a moment, he then declared, "He's probably pissed off at himself that he's nearly missed the childhood friend route, you know?"

With that, he knocked on the teen's door, "Hey, Issei, you doing okay?"

After a few minutes, the door creaked open, revealing Issei in all his… sadness. He lacked his usual energy and his eyes drooped every few seconds. If anything, he looked more like a homeless man or someone suffering extreme depression.

"Hey guys… nice to see you again," Issei replied robotically. "What can I do for you?"

Josh tried to make no sound inside his throat at this sight: it was hilarious unfortunately, so he had to choke back a smug giggle or two to the back of his throat. Coughing a bit, he stepped forward.

"I heard you… talked to that friend of yours," Josh said. "And that you learned that the he was, ah, a [i]she[/i]."

Issei deflated even further at that before he gained some energy back and sunk to the ground.

"I missed out on the 'childhood friend' route of life!" He declared bitterly. "So many years wasted! I'm not gonna be able to fulfil that flag at all!"

"So? It's not like you just repressed it or anything, you were just an ignorant kid," Trent chuckled with a shrug. "Besides, it's not like you grew up with her the entire time."

"But there's the principle of the matter!" Issei retorted, one of his arms flapping up in protest.

Ah, it's fine, it's fine," Trent answered, waving off the teen's protests. "Now, tell us about what she talked to you about, well, if there was anything juicy there."

Issei drew himself up then, ignoring his own depression at the 'seemingly locked forever route'. Scratching his head, he looked oddly passive as he thought back on the conversation.

"Well Shido- I mean, Irina now I guess- told me she and her dad live in Italy now. Pretty beautiful apparently, but it was kinda hard to follow the conversation." He confessed.

"But I told her about the whole deal with Yuu- _Raynare_ ," he firmly corrected himself. "And she got super serious. Like really serious- she was energetic 'til then, but as soon as I told her more about it she said she'd talk with her dad about coming over to Japan."

Josh soaked in the info, rubbing his hand along the wall of the Hyoudou house.

Irina and her father… were coming here? To Kuoh already? She wasn't supposed to get there until the Excalibur incident and her father even later on.

He rubbed his face tiredly: he should've expected it in some fashion- Irina cared a lot about Issei. It's only natural she would get personal and work mixed together somehow.

"Heh, sounds like some fun times are ahead, eh Issei?" Trent grinned.

Having Irina show up this early could be great for them, hopefully keeping Asia from falling into Raynare's clutches too. Though there was the chance that the battle-nun would be suspicious of him and Josh.

Rather than focus on that, he clapped a hand onto Issei's shoulder, "And look at it this way, would she have been such a hurry to visit you if she didn't care about you?"

Issei stopped his muttering and worrying, and looked up at the Canuck, "You, you really think so?"

"I'm pretty damn sure," Trent confirmed, smiling gently.

Then his grin turned evil, "How about you join me and Josh in training with the Devils? It'll help you get stronger before your friend arrives?"

The brunet looked a bit conflicted, "I… I dunno…"

The comforting hand Trent had on Issei's shoulder turned into a clawed grip as he chuckled malevolently, "Don't worry, we'll whip you into shape."

Josh chuckled evilly, hand gripping his Card and gripping Issei's other shoulder just as hard as Trent.

Yes, this'd be… _quite fun._


	6. Chapter 6

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**

 **Chapter 6**

-X-X-X-X-

Issei stared at the feast for the eyes before him, almost physically salivating but managing to restrain himself.

They had all gathered for training, the teens all wearing their gym uniforms while Trent and Josh were in some cheap workout clothes that they'd picked up. The clothing was quite flattering on the figures of many of the young ladies, all of whom Issei was having trouble keeping his eyes off them.

Rather than slap the perverted teen upside the head as he usually would have, Trent leaned down so his mouth was at Issei's ear level and roared, "ATTEN-HUT!"

The boy jolted upright, his eyes wild as he looked to the blond man.

"What the hell was that for!" The boy yelled at the Canuck, who simply grinned in response and gestured to his friend.

Josh smiled before marching up to the perverted teen.

"SHUT IT YOU MAGGOT!" He roared, enjoying how Issei slightly cowered. "Now, we are not your friends here you wussy! We are going to train you 'till your bones break!"

Issei raised a quivering eyebrow as the others looked on in curiosity and no small amount of amusement at the verbal beating the boy was getting from the two.

"Now, why are you here?!" Josh demanded, practically spitting in Issei's face.

"To, uh…" Issei scratched the back of his head, thoughts turning in his head.

"WHY! ARE YOU HERE?!" The Irishman screamed even louder in response.

Issei jumped in the air, still shaking from the force of the man's voice. Looking into the Irishman's eyes, he saw none of the previous friendly nature. Only a rock hard determination to make him squirm.

"To get stronger!" The Hyoudou replied, before adding, "Sir!"

"To get stronger, then?" Josh asked, to which the boy nodded fearfully. "Lemme see your war face!"

Issei looked at the man with a clueless expression, only to fall back in line when those terrifying eyes locked onto his again.

"You got a war face?" Josh shouted before furrowing his brow and bellowing at the top of his voice. "AAHHHHHHHHH! That's a war face now lemme see your war face!"

The boy jerked back even as the devils watched curiously, and found Trent at his back, "You want to get strong? Then we're going to put you through your paces! Break you down and build you back up into a warrior that anyone could be proud of! Now, I don't care about your war face, I care about your cardio! Hit the track and give me ten laps at an even pace!"

He gestured to the athletic field with a sweeping gesture, his yelling echoing across the field. He could see that Issei was cowering a bit, but he continued on, "If I see you slow down then I'm gonna start chasing you, and you won't like what'll happen if I catch you! Now GIT!"

"Yes sir!" The brunet hollered even as he bolted for the field, taking off at a pace that Trent doubted he could sustain. Hopefully he'd be able to keep an even pace when the Canuck started chasing him.

Josh couldn't help it; he snickered to himself. "Wow… that was fun!"

Leaving Trent to his devices, Josh walked over to the Devils who were eying him curiously. Saji in particular had a raised eyebrow, which the Irishman matched.

"That was quite the spectacle," Tsubaki noted, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Why did you do that? To motivate him?"

Josh nodded. "Yeah. Issei needs a ton of improvement in a lotta areas: might as well give him the Spartan treatment."

From what he remembered of canon DxD, Issei had _had_ to get training from hell done multiple times just in order to get to Vali's level: since he was a baseline human here, he'd have to get all that training and _more_ to be up to snuff.

Unpleasant, but needed.

"Seems harsh," Saji noted somewhat harshly, drawing the Irishman out of his reverie. "You sure it's gonna do anything? He's just a human."

"Kid, Issei needs to build up his basics first and foremost. Secondly, I know how to up someone's athleticism pretty well, certified triathlon coach and all that," Trent interjected from over his shoulder, keeping an eye on the running teen.

"Yeah, but still… we're all Devils, what's he gonna be able to accomplish?" Saji argued, his tone immensely arrogant.

It took everything Josh had not to punch him in the face. He knew, _intellectually_ , that Saji was better than he seemed: better as a person and as a fighter. But right now, looking into those egotistical eyes… he didn't see it.

"Are you really so much better than Issei?" The Irishman asked harshly, stepping up to the blonde. "Maybe we should see if you're all talk, dipshit."

It wasn't due to his sore feelings over Sona that he was confronting Saji- or at least, that's what he told himself deep in his head. But the kid needed a beating to get that arrogance out of him.

Saji arched an eyebrow before smirking. "Sure. What could you do anyway? Aren't you human too?"

Josh narrowed his eyes. Some of Sona's peerage looked at the two with worry, before Tsubaki tried to step in. As the Queen, it was her duty.

"Enough of this antagonism Saji," She said to him with a tone of steel. "They are our allies. We do _not_ antagonize them."

"And just an FYI, I turned a Fallen's hand and forearm into chunky salsa with ease, and I could have killed her without even trying," The blond man again interjected, this time in order to keep things from escalating. "Regardless of your being a reincarnated devil, someone who has more training and more experience can take you down even if they are a baseline human. Exorcists are a thing after all."

Keeping his eyes on Issei, he judged that he had a few more minutes before he would have to start nipping at the teens feet. Turning to see the grimaces on the faces of the various devils, he decided to continue.

"This isn't just training for Issei, Josh, and I, it's also for your own improvement. Hell, how long have you been a devil? A few weeks? A month? A little bit longer? You're young right now but you'd do well to remember that you're never too old or too powerful to improve." Turning his gaze back to Issei and seeing him stumble, he clicked his tongue. "Now if you'll excuse me… YOU CALL THAT AN EVEN PACE MAGGOT? LET'S SEE YOU GET MOTIVATED!"

With that, he charged onto the track, making a point to pace himself and remain behind Issei rather than catch up to him. It should give the teen a bit of a scare and light a fire under his feet.

Looking at Trent chasing Issei, Josh took a few valuable breaths to calm down. Breathing in and out, his pulse stopped hammering away in his neck and he turned back to the rest of the Devils, calm once more.

"...Anyway," He brushed aside the incident, taking out his Class Card. "A few of you guys are Knights, right? I need to practice swordplay and get a bit faster. Any volunteers?"

Naturally, Kiba stepped forward with his traditional easy grin on his face. Next, a girl with reddish-brown hair tied in pigtails walked forward, taking out her katana with grace and energy.

"Hello, stranger! I am Tomoe Meguri, one of Kaichou's Knights!" She declared before bowing. "I look forward to a good match!"

The Irishman raised an eyebrow before returning the gesture. "Y-yeah, me too. You ready as well, Kiba?"

The blonde Devil smiled and nodded, a black sword appearing in his hands. "Yes; I always welcome a new challenge."

With that confirmed, Josh stood a distance apart from his new opponents, whose eyes narrowed in concentration despite their easy smiles. Taking his Class Card into his hand, he looked at it before furrowing his brow.

"Install!" He shouted and white light covered his form, blinding everyone around.

After a few seconds, the light dimmed, allowing them to see his new form.

His normal clothes were gone, replaced by Japanese wear of the Bakumatsu period. A white shirt with black lining covered his upper body, and his legs were garbed in black, toe-less tights like those from Naruto. Over the shirt was a pink coat and around his neck fluttered a dark scarf. Black arm guards covered his arms as well, and the sword was clasped in his right hand.

Josh looked himself over, whistling. "Wow, this looks good."

His opponents seemed to agree- Tomoe bounced on the balls of her feet whilst Kiba's smile widened.

The Irishman's instincts honed themselves and with a smile of his own he withdrew Okita's sword from its sheath. Falling into the fake stance he'd worked out before, he smiled at his opponents.

"Come on then, let's see what you're made of," He said with an aloof tone.

In the next second, all three of their blades clashed in a shower of sparks and the clinging of steel.

-X-X-X-X-

Trent threw a water bottle to Issei, even as he uncapped his bottle and took a swig. Looking back at the teen he spoke, "We're taking a quick break and then we're going to do some training to improve your musculature. Push ups, sit ups, and all that jazz."

"Th-thank you…" The brunet sighed as he fumbled with the lid for a few moments before opening it and sucking away at the precious liquid inside.

He rolled his shoulders and looked to where the devils were practicing, only to find Rias standing beside him with a smile. The redhead looked him over before asking, "So, can you do something akin to what Josh did? That "Install" of his?"

Trent's eyes rolled over to where the aforementioned Irishman, Kiba, and Meguri were clashing. Taking in the sight of them sparring he shrugged, "Mine's a bit different, but it functions similarly enough. How's the training going?"

The redhead hummed, her eyes trailing over her subordinates and Sona's group as she considered the question. She spoke, "About as well as I can hope for, I suppose. Though I do wonder why you aren't joining us."

"I use guns, and moreover, the type of bullets I use… well, they're rather unhealthy for devils, fallen, and the like. I'd rather not kill any of you while _training_ ," The Canuck replied, offering an awkward smile before turning back to his subject.

"Now then Issei, we're gonna start with push ups, now drop and GIVE ME FIFTY!" He roared the last part, causing him to drop his water even as he basically collapsed to the ground and into a push up position.

"YES SIR!" Issei shouted, already falling subservient to the Canuck's will.

Taking up the form he remembered from old PE days, the Hyoudou began pushing himself up and down repeatedly and at a fast pace. Soon enough, his muscles began aching and sweat poured down his face.

He was almost tempted to give up, to call in a day. He was a pervert, not a fighter! What could he hope to accomplish by doing this?

In the recesses of his mind, he saw Yuuma again. No, he saw Raynare.

 _Her dangerous smirk and seductive pose, and her terrifying face as she reared back a spear made of Light._

 _"Poor little Issei; when you die, who's going to mourn you? No one. They will all call you a weakling and I will take great delight in killing you slowly and ve~ry creatively."_

Issei's eyes snapped open and even as he struggled harder, as the pain grew greater in his arms, he refused to give in.

He'd almost died to Yuuma once. No way would he let himself actually die to her! His mom would cry and so would his dad; his porn collection would be donated to charity, and he'd never get to see all the things he wanted to see!

For a brief moment, the struggling boy thought he heard something in his head. Something like a great beast breathing and waking up.

But he had no time for distractions. He had to push himself…!

Watching Issei struggle through the push ups, Trent couldn't help but smile. The kid had found some motivation, and that would definitely be something that helped push him forward in the future.

"Can you show it to me then? Your Install?" Rias asked, her eyes shining as she looked between the student and coach duo.

The blond drew the Archer card from his pocket, looking at the gracefully decorated card as he sighed.

He could do it.

He could do it.

He was _going_ to do it.

"Install."

There was a brief lightshow and burst of wind, which dissipated to show Trent clad in a black military uniform and cape, a sabre belted at his hip, and a great hat decorated with a golden star at the front upon his head. He thrust an arm out before him and summoned a rifle into it, tempted to let off a shot and terrify someone for fun and the sake of keeping them on their toes.

He looked to Rias, he smile morphing into a wide mouthed grin, "Believe me, I'm a lot more impressive than I appear."

With that he threw his arms up in a shrug, the trouble with being a gunner.

"No, no, it's quite something," The redheaded devil replied looking over his Install form with interest. "What are you capable of in that form?"

Rias had to admit she was curious: even here she could feel the power rolling off of Trent, like crimson flames. She found herself a bit short of breath in comparison to a few moments ago, coughing to clear her throat.

Issei looked at Trent too, finishing his first set of push ups. He had to admit, as he looked at the guy in that cool getup, Trent was so cool looking!

Issei looked down at his left arm, the Twice Critical appearing at his thought. Honestly, even though the gauntlet was cool it didn't seem all that useful, the boy thought as he looked into the centre green jewel critically.

What could something like this do?

Trent shrugged, "I'm a gunner, I specialize in doing that, and my Install allows me to summon infinite guns and fire them without touching them. Then there's…"

He trailed off at the thought of Nobu's Reality Marble, he didn't know if he could summon it, but he knew that summoning it and dragging the various devils present into it would be ill advised.

Still, he wanted to show off a bit.

He wanted to be better than he was.

It was like reaching for a hedgehog, like gripping it wrong would hurt him badly, but he pulled at the feeling anyways.

Even if he wasn't Nobu, he was still the person who had to represent her in this world, and he wouldn't let her image down.

He pulled and pulled, and as he grinned savagely at Rias he could feel a fire burning at his back. He leaned back into the heat and roared, "Witness, PAPIYAS!"

The great skeleton erupted from the ground behind him, the fires that would burn away everything divine and mysterious moulded into this savage form. Its glare was a baleful crimson, and every movement it made was a clattering rattle. Fires burned in its rib cage, skull, and fists, and cast Trent in an infernal light.

The canuck's grin threatened to split his face in half as he declared, "I can do this too."

Rias blinked at the great flaming skeleton looming behind the Canadian, the heat rolling off it in waves of shimmering power. The thing was clearly some sort of summon, and if it obeyed Trent as it seemed to…

Well, she definitely wanted to see if she could convince him to join her Peerage.

{~}{~}

Throughout the field clangs echoed. Sparks littered the area and fierce grunts could be heard.

Tomoe slashed her katana at Josh's face, only to be deflected by his retreating. Immediately Kiba seized the chance, stabbing his sword forward at the man's leg, hoping to cripple him-

Josh disappeared in wisps of wind, leaving the two to crash to the ground before bounding up.

The Irishman reappeared in front of them, shaking his head. The sensation of moving with Okita's technique was… odd and very disorienting. His vision shook as he tried to get a grasp on himself.

He looked at his opponents: they bore wounds across their chests and arms predominantly, whilst he only had a few along his torso. It was the result of not only high speed clashes but thinking at the same speeds.

Okita's speed was unparalleled as a Saber, which allowed him to get in a few hits but nothing decisive- but the Devils opposite were more experienced at fighting than he was, so they were still stubbornly surviving.

It was incredible.

"Wow, high speed is hella weird," He said lightly, the others agreeing. "Is this what you have to do in a fight? My sympathies."

"Hahaha, it's not too bad once you get used to it!" Tomoe declared, leaning her katana against her shoulder. "It's like a muscle needing to get stretched."

"Indeed," Kiba nodded in agreement. "Though I have to say… Knights are the fastest among Devils… but you are faster than us. How?"

Josh smiled knowingly. "For me to know and you guys to find out."

The Irishman fell into his stance again, though the pains in his hands and legs were disappearing quickly. Was this the result of learning Okita's style as he fought?

Simply incredible.

The other two got into their stances too. Wind blew through the area, as the spectators looked on in surprise at how fast they had been.

"Interesting," Tsubaki noted, wiping her glasses with a spare cloth. "That man has interesting abilities."

Saji's face twisted and he huffed to himself. "Hmph, nothing special. I could do that!"

No he couldn't was the thought going through everyone's head at that line.

Josh focused his eyes down the sword blade. Everything drowned out into useless static, leaving just him and his targets.

His prey.

The next exchange would decide the outcome of this training session, so he had to make sure he won. All the tension from before had eased out of him like an exorcism, but the Irishman _knew_ he needed to win.

Something churned in his stomach but he ignored it- it wasn't something worth considering at this point.

One second went by.

Kiba gripped his sword with both hands, obviously going to go for his legs. Tomoe's grip on her sword was like a brawler with a baseball bat- undoubtedly she'd go for his arms.

Two seconds.

Josh's feet and those of his opponents began pressing forward. Eyes locking, it would only take a second to decide this match with their blades.

One.

Leaves ruffled in the wind.

The three dashed, their swords drawn back-

Josh devoted every single sense he could to assuring his victory. Hearing his opponents' movements, seeing them, feeling as the blades touched his skin like a love tap, the smell of raw adrenaline-

One last clang echoed through the area, then all was silent.

The three stood, all of them locked in a single moment.

Tomoe, Kiba, and Josh had their blades cleaved together, their eyes locked for the intense moment.

Then they broke, the three of them backing off.

The two devils knew, that had they been fighting alone, then Josh would likely have won. Even though his form was rough, it was rapidly improving as if her were relearning a style he'd not practiced in some time.

His strikes became more sure, more steady, and more certain as they had clashed.

To them, they couldn't help but wonder just how he would have been affected by a knight piece.

Sona hummed in thought as she watched the trio measure each other. Though she'd not gotten the best first impression of Josh, he definitely managed to impress in this brief spar.

"Quite capable," She noted to Tsubaki, who agreed. "I wonder…"

Josh undid his Install, walking over to Kiba and Tomoe with a hand outstretched. "Wow, that was a good spar. Thanks; I'm beginning to get a bit better… I think."

Kiba shook the proffered hand with a smile, whilst Tomoe's shake very nearly dislocated the Irishman's arm.

"Indeed, you're rapidly improving- I'm a bit jealous," Kiba admitted as they walked over to the spectators. "But it should be a good time, observing it."

"You said it!" Tomoe agreed loudly, bouncing back up to her leader's peerage. "We gotta do this again sometime.

Suddenly a burning sensation bubbled in the man's chest. He coughed loudly and so hard his throat burned from some kind of fire.

"Are you alright?" Tsubaki asked in concern, watching as the Irishman coughed out his lungs. "You weren't injured were you?"

The Bishops of the peerage hurried forward, their medical spells coming to life in a split second. Laying their hands on the Irishman's chest, they pushed their magic into him, trying to heal whatever wound he had.

Soon enough, the coughing abated and Josh could _breathe_ again. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand- blood adorned it, and he almost cursed if not for his moderately sore throat.

Having noticed the commotion, Trent trotted over with concern scrawled across his face. Looking down at his friend and looking between the blood on the back of his hand, and his gasping for air, the blond clicked his tongue. The outfit borne of his Install whipping with his movement and garnering more than a few looks.

"The Install gave you his boneitis then?" This was something the blond had been worrying about… well, hopefully they'd be able to mitigate it somehow.

"It…" Josh coughed again, before he finally stopped. "Yeah. Dammit…"

He'd been hoping the Install wouldn't give him that critical weakness. But it was a stupid hope looking back- it was one of Okita's Skills after all, and Install gave him all of her abilities- this was one of them unfortunately.

"Ahhh, this sucks, I liked this outfit," He joked, looking at the red stains on his shirt. "...Ooof, I'm… gonna need to lie in tomorrow."

Already the sickness was adversely affecting him. His legs felt wobbly and he could barely stand and walk. The only reason he didn't fall down was that Trent and Issei caught him in time.

"Here I thought it'd be me and you dragging Issei home, not me and him dragging you back to the apartment," Trent shook his head as he hoisted Josh upright. "Criminy, we're gonna have fun testing the limits of the boneitis, aren't we…"

He muttered that last part to himself, before looking around at the devils. They showed a number of different expressions, from curiosity to concern, and he couldn't help but shrug at them.

"Sorry about this, I think we might have to cut today's session short, as I'd rather not have this lad hack up a lung," He offered to Sona and the approaching Rias, the devils frowning at the state Josh was in.

The glasses wearing teen spoke, "Tell me, this was a part of his Install? Why include something as detrimental as the fit he just showcased?"

"It's just the way things turned out, consider it an unavoidable flaw built into his Install," Trent replied rather than give anything further away.

The Sitri heir didn't quite click her tongue or teeth but her distaste for the idea was obvious, "Then why field him with something flawed if his life might depend on it?"

"It was all there was," Trent explained, but tried to keep things vague on his end. "Believe me, if we could give him an Install that worked better, I'm sure he'd take it in a heartbeat."

Josh felt strength come back to his legs, so he stood up a bit more, leaning on Issei.

"Hey, take it easy," Issei asked, concerned. "You were coughing like hell a second ago."

Josh said nothing, just looking at Sona again. Their eyes met, brown on blue, before Trent and Issei guided him out of the area.

Why did she seem concerned for him? That was a question Josh was pondering on the walk.

{~}{~}

Managing to trudge to the Hyoudou house, Trent couldn't help but sigh.

He'd managed to Install again and unleash Papiyas, while Josh had Installed and then discovered that Okita's TB affected him.

Looking over at Issei, he couldn't help but feel a bit accomplished, they'd made some decent progress on his growth.

Stepping aside to let Issei open the door, they were greeted by an exuberant cry of, "Issei-kun!"

On the other side of the door was a beautiful young woman, her blonde hair up in twintails, and a grin on her face. Trent couldn't help but chuckle as the grin morphed to confusion at the sight of Issei's own confusion.

"Huh? S...Shidou?" Issei said dumbly as the girl's eyes lit up at the sight of him.

His eyes went up and down the young woman's form. She was wearing a heavy coat, but he _could just see_ the size of her boobs- decently big, always a win. But he shelved that for propping Josh up.

"Issei! It's been a long time!" Irina cried out dramatically as she rushed forward to the group. "When you called I was so happy and so worried! Someone tried to kill you?!"

"Ahhh… yeah, I guess," The Hyoudou continued dumbly, still distracted by how _attractive_ she was. How had he missed she was a girl?! "Oh, these guys saved me actually. I owe a lot to them."

For the first time Irina seemed to notice Trent and Josh, eyes furrowing in concern at the sight of the latter. She walked closer, more guarded than before the Irishman dimly noticed.

Well, she _was_ an Exorcist- how else would she react to people associating with her childhood friend? Undoubtedly she… could have run a background check on them and naught would have come back.

So… confusing.


	7. Chapter 7

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**

 **Chapter 7**

-X-X-X-X-

The quartet all stood there staring at each other, most of them feeling decidedly awkward. After a few moments, Trent spoke up, "Well, uh, we're here to drop Issei off so he can rest up. If you want to get what details you can from him and then meet with me and Josh tomorrow to discuss everything in full, we'll be available."

The shorter blonde stared up at him for a few moments before asking, "And why exactly, is Issei-kun so tired out?"

"We're putting him through training so that he'll be in good shape in case of any… Crow problems," The older man explained, even as he shifted a bit beneath the weight of Josh.

"Yeah… sorry 'bout that," Josh mumbled tiredly as he regained enough strength to stand on his own. "It's a tiny bit complicated."

Irina seemed bothered at that sort of nonsense answer, which made sense: after all, she cared a great deal for Issei in canon, so there was no reason to assume otherwise here.

She raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes at the two foreigners. Josh rubbed his forehead free of sweat- was this what it felt like to be glared at by a girl? It sent a shiver up his spine.

"Listen, I get it, you're worried about Issei, especially after his run in a few days ago. But, Josh and I are honestly just trying to help him out," Trent explained, allowing Josh to stand unsupported.

The girl's frown deepened, looking between the two foreigners, but her scrutiny was interrupted by Issei. The brunet staggered forward and declared, "S-Shidou, I get that these guys seem odd, but they saved my life! And they're helping me get stronger, and get to know people like the school's Great Onee-samas!"

The exorcist's scowl lessened at Issei's declaration, but the suspicion remained as she tried to judge the men. After a few moments, she sighed.

"Well, if Issei-kun says so…"

Josh sighed to himself in thanks. Steadying himself, he licked his dry lips- the stress of earlier had gotten to him, and he winced: he tasted blood and vomit now. Eugh.

"We are going to do the best we can to help Issei, that's a promise," He vowed to her, brow furrowed in seriousness. "You can rely on that."

His declaration was as true as he felt: now he did want to protect Issei, to help a guy like him fight for himself. Josh was _involved_ in this now, and he couldn't get out even if he wanted to.

Best to go with the flow and do what he could.

"Fine," Irina said, stalking forward to grab Issei's arm, pressing her breasts against it. "Issei-kun, we have a lot to catch up on! Let's go shall we?"

The Hyoudou's face was completely red and blood began leaking from his nose at the contact his arm was having with her chest. He could hear it boing if he tried hard enough, and the texture was amazing! Was this what it was like to actually feel boobs against him?

But then his excitement went down a little, and rubbing his nose clean, he looked in concern at the other two.

"Are you guys gonna be okay?" Issei asked worriedly, just a little. "I mean, considering everything…"

Trent shrugged, "I'll get Josh back to the apartment and make sure he doesn't die in his sleep or anything. You just focus on getting reacquainted with your friend and then meet up with us tomorrow afternoon, okay?"

The teen looked between the two, clearly tempted to protest, but settled for nodding resolutely. "Alright, you guys take care though! Yuu- Raynare might try and get you guys while Josh is injured!"

"Well, I'll just have to give her what for then," The canuck smiled grimly, his hand travelling down to the pocket that had Nobu's class card in it.

Issei looked between them and then nodded.

He was sure they could handle it, even if he still needed to get stronger…

"Well, let's get going yeah?" Josh asked his friend as they began walking back to their apartment. "We got… a lotta shit to do."

As they walked, the image of Irina came back into the Irishman's head. A thought niggled inside his mind- Irina being here was a pretty big divergence from canon, but would she come alone? It wasn't entirely important, but apparently her father was a pretty good exorcist.

"Hey Trent," He asked the Canuck, slowing his pace. "How good was Irina's dad at, y'know, being an exorcist?"

"Uhhh…" The blond trailed off in thought.

Irina's dad… he remembered that the man was something of a ditz who supported her pursuit of Issei but not much more than that. After ruminating on it for a moment his eyes widened.

"I don't remember, because I don't think it ever really said. By the time canon rolled around the man had given up being exorcist for the mantle of pastor." Trent remarked, thinking on the circumstances of the elder Shidou as he hadn't really meant much to the plot. "Whether or not he was strong wasn't brought up from what I remember."

Well, that was annoying Josh decided with a mild grumble. Wincing as he stretched his shoulder, the Irishman thought back pensively on the training session.

Besides his very brief coughing fit, it hadn't gone entirely bad- he's been picking up Okita's fighting style as he went, but even then it still felt like a key component was missing. For the life of him he couldn't figure out _what_.

It _irked_ him massively, knowing something was keeping him from reaching more potential.

Josh's face twisted into a grimace. Though, was it worth it if he was going to cough out his lungs every time he fought?

"What'd you wanna do now?" He asked suddenly.

The blond shrugged, "Right now? I want to get some food in me and then get you back to the apartment so you can get some rest."

He leaned back and cracked his spine, looking to the sky.

Things were quickly going off the rails, with Issei not being a devil and Irina showing up early…

"Well, it's not like we can do too much at the moment anyway," Trent opined, tempted to roll his shoulders and see if he could get them to crack. "You want to get something while we're out or make up some of the stuff we've got back at the apartment?"

"Either or, honestly," Josh admitted, mouth still tasting sour. "It's not a huge deal, is it?"

After all, things were going rather well for now and they'd likely have to meet up with Issei and thus Irina tomorrow.

The Irishman sighed as a headache burned in his head.

Things were getting _complicated._

Oh joy.

-X-X-X-X-

Needless to say, the night had not been kind to Josh. His lungs still ached from the aftermath of coughing them out, so he'd been half-awake in a daze most of the night. Even when he managed to get some shut-eye, it ended up not lasting for more than a few hours or so.

Annoying was what it was.

"Well, today's going to be something," He muttered to himself, eating his breakfast and drinking some of that coffee. "Not exactly looking forward to it."

Irina was still an Exorcist after all, and Josh had grown up on tales from his family as to the corruption of the establishment she served.

Needless to say… he did _not_ have positive feelings for them at all.

Trent sighed into his own nearly emptied cup and then quaffed the rest, taking a moment to swallow before speaking, "Well, we've got to schmooze and build connections. It's not like we can just run around acting like the people whose Class Cards we have."

The blonde then grabbed his glass of juice and started on that, chugging back the drink before getting ready to toss the lot of it into the sink.

"Besides, it's not like this won't benefit us in the long run, as having Irina around means that we also have an additional body in any fight we might end up in." The canuck supposed as he got up with his dishes, though he did look at the toaster in consideration.

Josh nodded reluctantly. As much as he hated to admit it, Irina would be a big help against the Fallen and their cronies. Wielding one of the Excaliburs would also be a huge boon, given how absurdly bullshit they were in this setting.

Some of their powers didn't even make any sense! How did some of them come from Excalibur?!

"Well, at least we'll be able to fight better than before eh?" The brown-haired man reclined in his chair. "We won't be bird food for those crows when they show up."

Which was arguably the most important thing, beside training up Issei himself. Learning their moves made it easier to survive, even if it hurt like hell.

"Of that, there is no doubt," Trent agreed as he began rinsing off his dishes.

Irina was a skilled warrior in her own right, and her ability to wield an Excalibur shard meant that she'd be a valuable ally against any stray devils or people like Diodora.

Though, there was also the fact that her weapon would likely cause some discord between her and Kiba, which could extend to the groups at large. While he hoped that wouldn't be the case, the canuck wasn't so out of touch as to dismiss it out of hand.

Towelling off the dishes, he spoke, "I'm not planning on doing too much today other than making sure we have some decent snacks and coffee for when the kids show up. You?"

"Not much either, just getting over the tail end of Okita's boneitis or whatever it is," Josh grumbled, putting his dishes away and reclining on the sofa.

He looked at his Class Card with a sombre expression, contemplating.

Was that what Okita had had to live with, during her final days and moments? That excruciating, burning pain in her chest that kept her from doing what she really wanted?

He clenched the Card in sympathy. That was… a cruel twist of fate.

"Tuberculosis," Trent clarified as he put the plateware away. "I just said boneitis to keep the devils from making a connection between you and Okita. Those are some questions I don't think we can really field at this point."

Taking a moment to stretch, the blond looked over at his flatmate, tempted to give him a pat on the shoulder or something to try and cheer him up. Rather than go through with it, he rolled his shoulders and made to exit the kitchen.

Before he cleared the portal he advised, "I say it'd be for the best if you take the day to just rest and laze about, while I get the groceries and such. Unless you've any issues with that?"

"Not at all- I excel at doing nothing!" Josh quipped, stretching out onto the sofa comfortably. "A prime speciality."

While he had no qualms about doing what he had to around the apartment and in his social life, there was just something attractive about curling on something and doing absolutely nothing all day. It had made his mother frustrated with him at times, but it worked out in the end as it always did.

Josh frowned though. Even if doing nothing was heavenly, he felt like he needed to do a little bit. His fingers began tapping against the sofa in thought, but no ideas came.

As he slipped on his shoes and grabbed a tote bag for the groceries, Trent looked over at the bored looking Celt and spoke, "If you feel like you're going stir-crazy, grab the vacuum and run it over the floor."

It wasn't anything urgent or likely to strain him, so the blond figured it would be safe enough for him to do. And, if Josh didn't, then he'd do it himself.

Unlocking the door, he called over his shoulder, "Want me to try and get anything specific?"

Josh took a moment to think. They had enough food and there was plenty of entertainment around, so he just shook his head.

"Nah, can't think of anything," He said honestly. "Just try not to get shanked- Lord knows that'd be an anti-climax."

"I got Nobu on me, and I doubt that the Fallen would try anything in public at this time in the morning," The blond offered with a shrug before stepping out the door.

{~}{~}

As a knock came at the door, Trent put down the book he'd been reading and ambled over to it, opening the door to reveal Irina and Issei. He nodded to both of them with a smile before stepping back to beckon them inside, "Welcome you two, feel free to take a seat wherever you guys like while I grab some refreshments."

As the pair stepped inside and shucked off their shoes, the canuck bustled away into the kitchen. As he got some cups out he called, "Would you two like tea? Coffee? Water? Juice?"

"Uh, water please," Issei asked as he moved to take a seat on one of the couches, his eyes darting about the sitting room. Irina was quick to take a seat next to him, not so close as to be pressed against him, but definitely close enough to imply something.

As the Exorcist settled into her seat she spoke, "I'll just have water as well."

"Alright," Trent called back as he filled a pair of glasses. "Josh, you want anything?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Josh said, just sitting across from the two, uh, lovebirds. "I'll get something if I feel like it though."

He turned his eyes towards Issei, watching with curiosity when Issei seemed to ease into Irina's grasp around his hand. He wasn't acting as perverted as he thought he would, just a bit confused.

Interesting, very interesting.

"So Issei, how did last night go?" Josh asked, smiling wryly at the younger lad. "Your parents like your companion?"

Issei lit up like a volcano, words spluttering from his mouth as Irina laughed lightly to herself.

"A-a-a-a-h, yes they did!" He exclaimed in a cloud of steam. "They even said I might be able to give them grandchildren now!"

Josh snickered to himself. That… was utterly hilarious.

Walking into the sitting room with a tray laden with the water for their guests and some dishes with cookies and such in them, Trent couldn't help but chuckle, "Well, remember, always be safe, and if you can't be safe, name it after me."

The duo sputtered at that, their faces flushing at the implication even as Irina protested, "W-we're nowhere near that far! And, I-I'm not sure if I'd be ready for that! But if Ise-kun asked…"

As the blonde girl trailed off in contemplation, Trent took his own seat and grabbed his coffee mug. Though he was enjoying flustering the kids, they did need to take care of business. Taking a quick drink and savoring the fact that he'd picked up some better coffee beans, he spoke up, "Well, anyways, I'm sure you've some questions for us, Irina Shidou?"

"I do," her previous lackadaisical attitude gave way to a more serious persona. "You two, how did you come across and save Ise-kun?"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. Her hands slid up her arm to near her shoulder, the ribbon of Mimic just barely able to be seen.

"My papa's tried looking into you two, but we couldn't find any information on you except forgeries," She further explained. "So please… who are you?"

Josh blew air out of his mouth. Wow, going for the jugular. He could already feel his pulse speeding up inside his neck. The Irishman rubbed his face in exasperation but also stress- this was not going to be a fun conversation.

"That… is quite hard to explain," He admitted, first and foremost. "'Cause even we don't really know how we got here."

"Well, as we've said, I'm Trent, and he's Josh. We're a pair of people who've stepped up and stuck our noses into the matters of the supernatural," Trent gave his own answer, leaning back in his seat and considering his options. "Honestly, Josh only really got involved because I refused to let Raynare kill Issei. He just followed my lead on that one."

Irina looked between Issei and the pair of foreigners, her brow creasing in thought as she asked, "Then why help him even after that? You could have just left him to join the devils."

It looked like just saying that made her a bit ill, if only at the thought of her crush turning into her sworn enemy, but Trent could appreciate her question. She genuinely was worried about Issei and wanted what was best for him.

Friends like that were hard to come by…

"Because it wouldn't be right to just leave him to flounder on his own. He's a bit of a pervert, but he isn't a bad kid," The canuck replied. "Besides, I figured it'd be better for him to see what the other factions were about rather than just let him jump right at being a devil."

Irina nodded hesitantly at that, sitting back in her seat in thought. Something seemed to bug her though, since her eyes fixed on them again and she leaned forward.

"How were you able to fight off a Fallen Angel? You two just seem like regular humans," Irina questioned further. "But I can't see anything around here sufficiently powerful enough."

Josh sighed. Well, the important question was asked now, the one that was the most imperative. They couldn't explain fully how the Cards worked, or their history, or Irina would try to take them for the Church. But if they didn't explain a few things, she'd report them anyway.

Fuck's sake, he thought.

"It's hard to explain really," He admitted to her. "I don't know the specifics myself, but we can use something similar to a Sacred Gear… I guess you could say."

He withdrew Okita's Card from his pocket, flaunting it to an obviously interested Irina.

Trent pulled out his own Card and then spoke, "To put it simply, these let us swing above the regular human level, with my own being one that is suited for facing off against supernatural beings."

The girl looked conflicted and more than a bit suspicious, but Issei spoke up, "It's really cool! He can summon a big skeleton thing that's on fire and also a lot of guns! He shot Yuu-Raynare's spear and destroyed it!"

The canuck smiled at the ego stroking that the kid was sending his way, and hid his expression behind the brim of his mug. In the end, he just ended up shrugging, "We're doing all we can, and were hoping that you would lend a hand."

He just wanted things to go better, and if Irina agreed to help then hopefully Asia wouldn't have to die…

His knuckles tightened around the handle of his mug at the thought. He'd probably go ballistic if things went in that direction.

Asia… Asia didn't deserve what had happened to her.

"You two…" Irina sighed, rubbing her forehead dramatically. "You two are really causing problems, y'know? People aren't supposed to be able to do that without Sacred Gears."

The Shidou stopped rubbing her aching head, and looked at the two foreigners. "But you… you helped save Ise-kun. You saved him from the Fallen when I couldn't."

Her eyes turned downcast and Irina slouched down into her seat, conflict obvious on her face. Josh felt sympathy for her: she _loved_ Issei, there was no doubt, and to have learnt the guy would have died but for them would've been a heavy blow.

Irina's despair went away that instant, and she stood up smiling. "As thanks for protecting my Ise-kun, I will help you two! It's what The Lord wants us to do; help those in need!"

She extended a hand towards the dumbfounded twosome. "I, Irina Shidou, will help you two!"

The canuck smiled at her, "Thank you, miss Shidou. I'm grateful for your help."

He stood from his seat and put his mug down on a coaster on the table, and reached across to extend a hand to her. She grabbed it and shook, her smile mirroring his.

Then, Trent spoke up, "But you know, doesn't Vasco Strada do well enough on his own _without_ even having Durandal on him?"

Irina blushed at the implication. "W-well, that's different! Lord Strada has trained his body to the utmost pinnacle! He's an exception!"

Josh smirked, balancing his head on his hand. "There's nothing saying _we_ can't do the same y'know. How cruel- you don't believe in humanity's ability to improve, do you?"

"O-of course I do!" Irina shouted, the snarking remarks beginning to get to her. "It's just that… well…"

"Isn't it sad, Josh? Our new ally has so little faith in us," Trent faux cried, his voice hitching with laughter.

Irina looked between the two, and then pouted at her childhood friend, "Ise-kun, you know what I meant, right?"

"Er, I guess? But I'm trying to get stronger too, even if I only have a Twice Critical!" Issei declared, determination burning in his eyes.

On the back of the Hyoudou's left hand, a green circle shone dimly for a few seconds before going out.


	8. Chapter 8

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**

 **Chapter 8**

-X-X-X-X-

"Alright, so, I get that this is awkward…" Trent hedged, trailing off as he looked between Irina and the two Devil Heirs. The exorcist was at best displeased with the identity of the group that the trio had been training with, but relented in the face of the fact that they were willing to help Issei. Meanwhile, Rias and Sona were hesitant to work with an exorcist.

Sighing and pushing up her glasses, Sona interjected, "Awkward hardly covers the matter, Blackmore. You're asking us to allow an exorcist to not just witness, but participate in our training."

"I get that, it's an awkward thing, but look at it like this: Irina took a personal trip to come check on Issei. She isn't here in her capacity as an exorcist, just a concerned friend who happens to know about the supernatural," The Canuck explained, making the entire situation seem a bit different than it was.

The brunette nodded, "I see, then I believe that her presence will be acceptable…" She stopped there and exchanged a look with Rias before continuing, "But we'd ask that whatever holy relic it is that she has on her not be used during the training."

"Seems fair enough," Josh agreed, rubbing his hands from the stress. "Uh, Irina? Would that be okay?"

The Exorcist was nonplussed, levelling a stare at the Devils in front of her, but wordlessly nodded at the Irishman's prodding. Even if she disliked Devils on a fundamental level, even Irina knew when to co-operate.

From his seat, Josh observed the situation a little. Ignoring how his heart started beating harder and how he was cracking his knuckles every few minutes, the meeting wasn't going too bad. What he was worried for was the encounter with Kiba.

Rias seemed to read his mind, _somehow,_ as a doubtful expression came over her face.

"Despite that… a member of my peerage may react badly to your presence," She addressed Irina, frowning in thought. "On one hand, it'd be extremely useful to have you participate, but on the other fighting my peerage would stir up bad blood."

Yeah… from what Josh remembered, Kiba wasn't exactly _welcoming_ of Exorcists- a big understatement. He'd practically froth at the mouth to get at her, even if she wasn't using Mimic.

He leaned forward, placing his head into his hands.

"Well, I could y'know, not fight that guy," Irina opined simply. "Is there any other person I could have a spar against?"

Sona and Rias seemed to think on it together, taking into account what they'd learnt of Irina. That said, even Sona seemed stumped by the way she took her glasses off and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Looking between all of them, Trent was deep in his own thoughts on who she could spar with as he started rambling, "Well, there's Josh as he's also a swordsman, Meguri's also a swordy one, and…"

There were a few other options, but as he trawled through his mental catalogue of Sona's peerage, he started.

It was the perfect learning opportunity.

Smiling, he looked between them as he spoke, "Well, if I may, I do have a suggestion, at least for a warm up…"

{~}{~}

Casting a glance around at the gathered devils, Trent clapped his hands to get their attention. They all looked to him, though Kiba did give Irina a strong stink eye before doing so, and the canuck declared, "Now, yes, Irina's joining us for our training sessions, which is great. But, I think it'd be best if we had a bit of an exhibition before we started training."

He raised his arms up as he gestured to the exorcist, "Our new friend here is a seasoned and trained combatant so we believed it would be best if she showcased her skills. Now, who better an opponent for her, than Mister Saji?"

The pawn pointed to himself, even as he asked, "Wait, me?"

"Yes you," Josh burst out slightly. "You were saying before that it'd be easy to fight me, right? Well, you got the chance to prove it."

Saji deflated at his former words and attitude being thrown at him, especially by the Irishman, but walked up reluctantly to face the bubbly girl. Irina just smiled and winked at him, causing the guy to blush.

"Let's have a good match, right Devil?" Irina asked sweetly, taking out a practice sword she'd been given beforehand. "I won't mess you up too much, so don't worry!"

Saji's nostrils flared in annoyance and he got into a stance. A black lizard-like gauntlet appeared on his hand also, the eyes glowing faintly.

Josh turned to Trent, curious. "Which of Vritra's Sacred Gears is that? I kinda forget."

All he knew was that it had something to do with lines and tongues and shit- it'd been too long since the Irishman had really delved into DxD itself.

"Absorption Line, basically, if he gets that line onto someone it can siphon their power into him. Or, if he decides to be nice, he can make another line, stick that onto someone, and give them a boost." The blonde answered, watching the two size each other up.

Where Saji was visibly wary and kept his eyes on Irina's sword, the girl looked almost at ease despite the tension in her shoulders. The pawn jerked his arm forward, seemingly intent on trying to snare the exorcist as he cried, "Extend, my line!"

Irina simply sidestepped the attack, her eyes never leaving the pawn as she darted forward. Rather than try and make use of the elongated line he currently had, Saji seemed to mentally recall it as he chambered his arm for another swipe.

Shaking his head, Trent sighed, "And it's already over."

And indeed it was.

Taking advantage of the time that Saji took to recall and prepare for a second strike, Irina had closed the distance between them and easily gotten inside his guard. Her practice sword hovered at his throat, a thoughtful look in her eyes as she grinned, "It was a good effort Devil!"

Saji gritted his teeth, but made no attempt to fight back. He backed off, walking back to the rest of the group.

"What was that about being able to beat someone like me?" Josh said smugly, unable to resist the temptation.

Saji levelled a glare at him, but said nothing. Sona gave the Irishman a disappointed look, causing him to recline into his position.

Josh had to admit, watching how Irina moved, he was tempted to Include and fight her himself. It'd be a damn good exercise, so long as he didn't exert himself. Plus, as he'd learned before, fighting made him feel alive- using Okita's power was like a drug high, only the drawback was coughing out his lungs.

Just as he'd made the decision to step up, Kiba stalked forward. In his hands was suddenly a sword, and he glared at Irina as he stopped opposite her.

"Yuuto, what are you doing?" Rias questioned, stepping forward. "We agreed a practice spar- that is _all._ "

"Allow me to spar with this woman, Buchou," Kiba didn't quite ask, but demanded. "It's as you said- just practice. I want to see what the Church's dogs are like."

Irina's previously lighthearted eyes lowered into an ice-cold one and she stepped forward herself.

Josh sighed internally. Why the fuck couldn't things just go right for a change?

"We aren't dogs, Devil," Irina said angrily. "We guide the flock like shepherds."

Kiba scoffed derisively. "The Church is wrapped in hypocrisy and scandals. I'm not surprised one of _you_ doesn't acknowledge that."

The Exorcist's face burned a fiercer red than before, and she began reaching up to the ribbon tied around her arm-

"All right you two, back up," Josh said sharply, stepping up with his Included sword. "I'm not gonna let this be a thing- whatever it is."

Damn it he forgot how annoying Kiba could be when he was acting out.

Behind him Tsubaki stepped forward with her naginata at Sona's nod. Not pointing it threateningly at anyone, just serving as a reminder of who was ultimately present.

Issei whipped his head back and forth between Kiba and Irina's standoff, as well as the Irishman's intervention.

Stepping forward, Trent held his own Card in hand as he looked between them. He could handle this delicately, or in his usual idiom: with all the bluntness of a boot to the head. He cleared his throat, and spoke, "Mister Kiba, there are many members and factions amongst the Church, just as there are in Devil society. One can only judge a person on what one truly knows about them."

Seeing the blonde winding up, Trent jabbed his finger at him, "No. Don't you start up like that. Whatever has happened to you in the past, I doubt Irina was involved in it. So, my advice is this, consider Irina within a void."

"A void? She's an exorcist! She's got a holy relic on her!" The younger blond snarled, his eyes burning as he waved at Irina.

The Canuck nodded, "That she is, but Kiba, look at it like this: this is an excellent chance to know your enemy."

Everyone stopped at that, even Kiba pausing in thought at that. While everyone was doing that, Trent took a moment to shoot Irina an apologetic look. Things were going far off the rails.

Josh, however, just stepped forward with his blade glinting in the light. Ignoring Trent and the others, the Irishman tapped his fingers impatiently.

"I'll give my own advice. Shut the _fuck_ up and stop being such a difficult moron," He said harshly. "This is for all our benefits, to help us survive. You wanna take the chance of dying due to spite? Feel free."

He gestured away from the school with the tip of his sword, glaring into Kiba's blue eyes and vice versa.

Josh knew- _he knew_ \- it wasn't smart to antagonise this guy. He knew he was poking a tiger with a pencil and he _knew_ he was being immature. It was just that the Irishman had always hated this facet of Kiba's personality: being bull-headed when it came to personal wrongs.

Hell, he knew how the guy felt! But it didn't stop his attitude getting on his nerves repeatedly.

Kiba said nothing but stared at him with a completely blank face, his sword still grasped in his hand.

For a blinding moment Josh thought the blonde would shove his sword into his ass, until-

"Kiba, I'm asking you to stand down," Rias cut in, the beautiful red-head Devil stepping forward between the two. "Please."

Taking a moment to pat Josh on the shoulder, Trent spoke, "You don't have to face her yourself, but if you decide to then make sure to reel in that hatred of yours. Or we'll have to see how good you are at dancing around bullets."

That stopped all of them cold, even as Trent quietly Included his Class Card and the light seemed to glint off the starburst on his hat. He was sure that he and Josh cut a rather terrifying image, the sunlight highlighting their weapons and features.

Kiba clicked his tongue as he turned away, clearly deciding that he wouldn't have anything to do with that facet of the training, for the moment at least.

Trent offered a shrug to the others. Not really much they could do on this front, not without dragging Kiba's issues out into the open.

The Devils and others got back into their positions, though the former tension still could be felt like an oppressive aura.

Josh walked alongside Trent, before turning his eye to the Devils.

Sona was _watching_ him, clinically and coldly, blue eyes shifting between him and Kiba attentively.

Huh, what was that about?

{~}{~}

Days passed, the students going through school during the day (and Irina transferring into Kuoh) while the two older gentlemen went through the arduous process of getting jobs to maintain their income. And during the evenings they met up to train further.

Where Issei could barely do three laps around the track at speed, he was now able to do ten without tiring. He'd gone from only being able to throw an amateurish punch, to at least a semi-competent brawler though he still walked away from each training session with his share of bruises. The boy was steadily building up his fundamentals and it showed even when he went unboosted.

Trent's own progress was incredibly limited, the Canadian seemingly stifled by the fact that he couldn't really move beyond his marksmanship and his continued attempts to manifest Papiyas as a flaming skeleton and keep it manifested.

Josh was getting at least marginally better at using Okita's powers and blade skills. For one he wasn't getting blisters on his fingers anymore and the stance was getting easier to understand with perfected practice. He still had some trouble of course, but he was at least able to _fake_ looking like a swordsman.

Even the Devils, who had expressed their own doubts at progressing, found themselves pressed to improve by the attitudes of the humans. Whether it was Kiba eventually returning to join them in their training, or Saji actually listening to how he could improve in using his Sacred Gear, they all found their own ways to get better.

Though some of the group were apprehensive of the friendship that bloomed between Saji and Issei, the two of them seemingly bonding over their shared perversion.

{~}{~}

Strolling through a park in the early noon hours, Trent sighed. His own job had him working from the early morning till about noon and he wasn't afraid to admit that he'd take another job in a heartbeat, but money was money.

Still, it was at least a nice day outside, and he was planning to see if he couldn't turn his sabre into Summer Nobu's Axe when they were training later.

"Ya know, I'd kill for a nine-to-noon job," Josh idly noted as he walked alongside his friend, clutching a book in his hand.

Luckily he was able to get a job in a bookstore with Sona's assistance. Even if the reading order of 'up-down' and 'right-left' was weird, it was still a dream job of his. He'd even managed to find an interesting book by a guy called Musashi.

"Working in a bookstore's fine, but the hours kill," He grumbled, rolling his shoulder and cracking it.

"Remember Josh, it's not nine to noon, it's _seven_ -to-noon. Worse still is that boss is a hardass about being presentable even though it's a fucking warehouse," Trent grumbled, thinking about how he might be tapped to go in early in the coming days. There was a big order coming in soon…

As he looked for something in the park to distract him, his eyes settled on a familiar figure, "Hey, isn't that Issei?"

Josh stopped cracking his shoulder and adjusted his backpack full of books. It was a good weight and it made him feel comfortable, but it was a still a bitch to haul.

He narrowed his eyes, hand shading them from the overhead sun.

Josh caught a flash of brown and yellow walking along some distance away. Once his vision focused, he could tell that was undoubtedly Issei, clad in a yellow jacket.

"Looks like it. Wearing a pretty hideous jacket though," The Irishman replied to the Canuck, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't think he'd be out and about around this time."

Before he could continue though, the Irishman's eyes caught a flash of white, black and yellow beside the young man.

His heart got caught in his throat and he stopped moving, surprising briefly paralysing him.

"Hey, Trent," He said uneasily, distantly aware of how strange he sounded. "Beside Issei, isn't that…"

Following the Celt's gaze, Trent's eyes narrowed, "Ah fuck all kinds of duck."

With that, he made a beeline for the duo, hoping that he could get there in time. The park was far from crowded, but there were still a few stray souls milling about. Eventually closing on them, he raised a hand up in greeting, "Issei, how's it going? Who's your friend?"

"Huh? Oh, Trent! Hey, this is great, I can't really understand Asia here, but maybe you could help us out!" The brunet cheered, gesturing towards the girl beside him. Said young lady turned her gaze shyly up to look at the newcomer, and offered him a small smile of greeting.

She waved a bit, and then spoke in what sounded like perfect English to the Canuck, "Hello, I'm Asia Argento, I need some help getting to the Church in this city."

That was when something clicked in Trent's head. How had they been talking to Issei since everything began? The Devils were understandable due to their speech magic, but the humans…

"We'd be happy to help you," Josh interjected, shuffling nervously on his feet. "Anything for a nice, proper girl right Trent?"

Josh's eyes flitted around them faster than he'd ever done before. His heart hammered against his ribcage like a jackhammer even as his mind was strangely calm.

Wait… where were the people?

The Irishman's eyes widened as he came to the realisation _there were no people here anymore._

That meant-

He grabbed Issei and yanked him to the side, Including Okita's sword as he did so.

With a mighty sound, a Light Spear slammed into where the Hyoudou had been standing seconds before.

"Ah~, I missed!"

Strolling out of the treeline was Raynare, her face twisted in a scowl. She had another spear ready to be let loose in her hand, seemingly not sure who to target. She settled for looking at the nun and declaring, "Asia, I've come to pick you up. Ditch the loser in the ugly coat and let's get going."

"Eh, I, uh…" Asia hedged, looking between the Fallen the and the trio who she'd been speaking with.

Rather than let things go further, Trent Included Nobu's hat and materialized a musket in his hand, aiming the gun at their attacker. Matching Raynare's scowl, he growled, "Think Raynare, think long and hard about what you're going to do next, because that's going to be a turning point in your life."

Making a show of pulling back the musket's hammer, he declared, "As in, whether your life continues or not."

Josh said nothing, simply falling into his-Okita's- kenjutsu stance. He eyed Raynare like a hunter would do to prey, anger flowing through his chest.

Despite the two men threatening her, Raynare appeared relatively unconcerned. She put a finger to her mouth in the imitation of a cute idol- it only made her look even more deranged.

"Hmm.. y'know, I haven't forgotten how you shot me before, that fucking _hurt_ ," The Fallen said hatefully at Trent, another Spear appearing in her hand.

She strolled forward leisurely, and Josh raised an eyebrow. Even in the face of threats, Raynare in canon had never been so confident or uninterested in people wanting to fight/ _kill_ her.

"Ah, but I'm not stupid you two," Raynare said mockingly, snapping her fingers. "I have a little something called 'backup'."

In a storm of black feathers, three more Fallen joined her.

A tall man in a trench coat and a fedora.

A woman whose luscious body was squeezed into a waistcoat of some kind.

A blonde young girl in a gothic dress, eyes narrowing sadistically at the two foreigners and the two humans behind them.

"Now…" Raynare chuckled darkly as Spears appeared in all their hands. "We'll be taking Asia back, thank you very much~"


	9. Chapter 9

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**  
 **Chapter 9**

-X-X-X-X-

"Issei, is there anyone coming from behind us?" Trent asked the teen quietly as he kept an eye on Raynare and her cohort. Not waiting for his answer, the blond materialized a multitude of guns aimed at all the Fallen.

With a smile on his face, he sauntered forward a few steps and declared, "I'm sure we all know the story of the elementary schooler who brought some candy to class and was asked by his teacher if he brought enough for everyone. While I'm no kid, I've made sure to bring enough guns for everyone."

"…Raynare, you never said that he was capable of this," The voluptuous Fallen muttered, her sneer giving way to frustration as she gestured at the man.

Looking between the guns and the one who summoned them, the leader growled, "Even so, there's no way he can fire them all without touching them!"

"Do you really want to test that theory?" Trent inquired, pulling back the hammers on every gun with a mental command.

Josh drew his sword to its fullest, pointing its edge towards the Fallen, keeping his back to Trent. His eyes fixed on Issei and Asia briefly, before he steeled himself.

"I'm fine with killing you guys," He confessed honestly. "You tried to kill me a while ago- I kinda wanna return the favour."

Whether it was Okita's influence or his own, Josh's heart was racing at that possibility. For all his life he had restrained himself from fighting back- now that he had a justification? He felt alive.

Maybe it was wrong to think this way, he thought as he fell into his stance, eyeing the seemingly youngest Fallen with a gleaming eye.

Maybe it was wrong to want to hurt something because it had hurt you, but the Irishman really didn't care at that minute.

The blonde Fallen saw that he was glaring at her and smirked wildly as she created another Spear.

"Shucks, that guy's giving me a pretty good glare. I wanna gouge out his eyes first!" She declared hungrily, licking her lips.

Pulling down his cap, Trent sent a baleful look at Raynare. He felt a burning in his soul, like he wanted to just tear the Fallen from the sky and break them. Rather than act on that emotion, he grunted, "Raynare, you can walk away. You and your little cadre don't have to die, throwing your lives away on enemy ground, for someone who doesn't give a shit whether you live or die."

Her sneer twisted hatefully, the light spear in her hand thrumming as she barked, "Like hell! I'll wipe away filth like you, Issei, and whoever, and I'll be rewarded for my services! Lord Azazel gets, what Lord Azazel wants!"

Before the Canuck could reply, Asia spoke up, "Uh, um, I-I'll go with Miss Raynare. I don't want you to fight…"

"I don't know what Asia is saying, but I don't like how it sounds! Get out of here Yuu-Raynare!" Issei exclaimed, the gauntlet on his arm glowing slightly.

Grinning grimly, Trent chuckled, "So, you're trusting orders that tell you to kill Sacred Gear users, despite Azazel being deep in researching Sacred Gears and their users. I wonder if the Grigori just keep you around because you have a nice rack."

Raynare's glare at that minute was the stuff of legend. Her eyes bulged, veins popped and her Light Spear cracked from how hard she was gripping it.

It seemed inevitable a fight was going to break out- Raynare was the type to lash out like an animal after all.

Josh silently eyed every single of the Fallen, picking out his new target.

"I'm going for the guy with the fedora first," He whispered to Trent, moving slightly. "He looks competent."

Dohnaseek said nothing, unlike his companions, simply just fixing them with an ice-cold stare. His coat fluttered in the wind, before he smiled.

Yes, Josh decided, Dohnaseek would go first. He didn't have anything personal against the guy… but it just seemed as if he was the one to take care of first. How the Irishman knew that he couldn't exactly pin down.

Nodding, the Canuck asked quietly, "Should I try and spare any of them, or just blow them all away?"

He could probably just kill off the lot of them in a hail of bullets, but there was also the usefulness that they could pose as prisoners. Not only that, but killing people in front of Asia… felt wrong.

Poor girl never asked for any of this to happen to her.

Swallowing a growl, Trent kept from bursting into action right then and there. If he was right, then Diodora Astaroth was likely watching, and he'd not mind teaching the shit a lesson.

"Do what you gotta do," Josh replied, stepping forward just a bit. "It's either us or them."

At that, the Irishman's heartbeat slowed and his breathing was as light as wind. He fixed his stare on Dohnaseek again, the fedora-wearing Fallen replying in kind.

Truthfully, Josh knew very little about what the Fallen were capable of besides flying and using Light Spears. They could throw them and fight with them, so they could go from ranged to CQC literally in a second. That put him at a massive disadvantage, naturally.

The Irishman's foot slipped forward on the ground, kicking up minute dust.

To his cooled mind, the solution to such a thing was simple. Be fast enough that his opponents wouldn't be able to switch.

As the two surged towards each other, Trent pulled the trigger on each and every gun. He reared his head back as he crowed, "Fear my Three Line Formation! Tremble, and let it be known! One who has taken up the name of Demon King of the Sixth Heaven has appeared!"

The female Fallen all tried to scatter, to dodge the hailstorm of metal sent their way while advancing but were startled by the blond's declaration.

Kalawarner managed to pull up, resulting in only her lower half and the bottoms of her wings being caught in the spray. She went down with a strangled cry, clutching at her wounded lower half as the Light Spear she'd summoned dispersed.

The smallest of the Fallen tried to turn and run from the assault, but found her wings and back shredded by the bullets. She shrieked, blood weeping from her wounds as she tumbled to ground.

Their leader had instead tried to rush Trent, and received a bullet in the chest for that alongside a number of holes in her wings and limbs. Raynare went down, gasping and trying to reform the Light Spear she'd originally assaulted the group with.

A sadistic glee warred with the bile surging in the blond's throat as he skulked forward, training more rifles on Kalawarner and Mitelt as he loomed over Raynare. She tried to crawl away, coughing as she grimaced up at her attacker. He simply pushed the barrel of the gun in his hand against her forehead, forcing her head into the dirt.

He was honestly tempted to step on Raynare's torso to keep her from trying to worm away, but held back. Trent kept the cruel grin on his face as he stared her in the eye, and remarked.

"Raynare, I gave you two chances to walk away. Two chances to just up and leave."

Pulling back the hammer on his rifle, he shrugged, "Maybe if you were more than a mook I'd consider taking your skull as a chalice."

Then, he pulled his rifle away from her head, aiming it off to the side. He let his smile ease into something more comforting, "But I'm a kind person, and maybe you can have a third chance and prove that you earned it."

At that, her expression brightened, a hopeful light filling her eyes as she started pushing herself away. Raynare struggled and flipped herself onto her stomach, digging her nails into the dirt as she started crawling.

Watching for a few moments, Trent let the smile on his face twist into an ugly thing, taking aim at her shoulder. With a simple squeeze, the rifle in his hands thundered, and her arm fell limp as she let out a harsh screech. Advancing on the Fallen, he rearmed the hammer as he sauntered up next to her. The blond hooked his foot under her shoulder and forced her onto her back in a smooth movement, his cruel grin filling her sight.

"You know Raynare, I always, always, always hold back from this point. I always make sure that I don't reach this point, because I love it," The man ranted, drinking in the sight of the despair on her face. "I know that enjoying this makes me a terrible person, but how the hell can I not love the sight of worms like you when their hearts break?

"It's one of the best things in life, is seeing someone who has been pushed to their very edge, and then breaking them! Watching their heart shatter as you snatch away their last hope!"

Leaning over the cowering Raynare, the man realized exactly why he loathed Diodora Astaroth as much as he did.

They were cut from the same cloth, but where Trent restrained himself from going too far until he was pushed to that point, Diodora threw himself into the pit wholesale. Bile and vile feelings surged in his throat as he grappled with that realization.

With a snarl of disgust, he put the gun against her forehead and pulled the trigger. The Canuck stood over the body for a few moments, the roiling in his gut blasting his nerves at the gore.

Standing to his full height, he looked up to the canopy above him and sighed. He needed a fucking break to unpackage all of this.

-X-X-X-X-

Throughout the area around the fountain, sparks lit as Josh and Dohnaseek's weapons clashed again and again, neither being able to overpower the other completely. Concrete cracked from the pressure of their feet, or was sliced by the winds generated by the Fallen's wings.

Josh grunted as their weapons rang out again as they came at each other, a lock forming for the briefest moments. Gritting his teeth, he was pleasantly surprised to see Dohnaseek was exerting some amount of effort.

Good, let the bastard fight for this!

"What… are you?" The Fallen questioned with effort. "How can a mere human… be so powerful?"

Josh said nothing- he didn't want to even give his opponent the satisfaction. Instead he kicked at Dohnaseek's leg with his foremost one, making him unbalanced.

The Fallen stumbled from the unexpected blow, unable to recover before the Irishman headbutted him and then side-stepped away before bringing his sword in a powerful round slash.

Blood fell to the ground as his katana ripped into Dohnaseek's flesh- but not fatal. Josh tutted as he looked at his opponent, who side-stepped like him and had suffered a deep cut into his arm instead of his chest.

They both leapt backwards at the same time, gasping for air.

A sudden feeling like iron dragged the Irishman's shoulders down and he struggled to breathe properly. His vision began swimming and distorting into red splotches, and an uncomfortably familiar feeling began clogging up his lungs.

"Goddamnit… why now?" He muttered in irritation, wiping away some blood dripping from his lips. "Just a little bit more…"

"Hmm…" Dohnaseek made a noise in the back of his throat, his Spear held at attention. "You are a strange one, human."

Josh wiped away the blood impatiently, readjusting the hold on his sword. He grit his teeth in hate as he looked at the idle Fallen standing before him.

"Maybe." He admitted, clipping his words to the minimum.

Less than a second later, the Irishman flew at his opponent in a haze of razor-sharp wind. Dohnaseek flicked out his spear expertly-

The blades were caught together in the next instant, sparks flying up again. This time however, Josh smiled: with a grunt he forced his blade down before whipping it in a circle, leaving his blade free and Dohnaseek's in the ground.

Seizing the opportunity and savouring the enemy's slightly-panicked face, Josh stabbed his sword forward towards the crow's dirty neck.

The Fallen desperately tried to bring up his spear to block the attack, only for him to be too slow. Josh's katana pierced Dohnaseek's throat, his breath catching as a gout of blood burst from around the wound and splash in the Celt's face.

Light spear tumbling from his hand, the Fallen's left hand came up to touch at the blade. In an instant, his eyes hardened and he seized the blade with the hand, a weak and poorly formed spear in the other.

It stabbed deep into the Irishman's gut, blood spilling in great quantity, colouring the brick a rusty red.

For a single, fascinating moment Josh felt nothing from his wound. Then suddenly a blazing pain started up and began spreading, spreading, spreading.

He cried out, hearing his heartbeat echo like a jackhammer as the flames filled his entire body and too powerful to be put out.

Josh nearly succumbed to it, ready to drop his sword and clutch his wound… until the ice cold reasoning of Okita washed it away, temporarily.

Thus with renewed strength he grit his teeth until they chattered painfully and wrenched his hands to the side, dragging his blade out of Dohnaseek's throat horizontally with a sickening squelch.

As his opponent's lifeless corpse collapsed into a bloody heap, The life-blood caking the Irishman's front, Josh breathed heavily.

His vision swam as he stabbed his sword into the ground and leant on it, like an old man and his walking stick. Through the pervasive tiredness and the pain beginning to overwhelm him, the young adult thought he cut a pathetic figure.

The desire to stop, to rest suddenly happened across his thoughts and as soon as they did, the man's eyes tried to close themselves peacefully, the void briefly swallowing him-

Josh's eyes snapped wide open.

No!

He couldn't stop, the Irishman thought as he banished the encroaching desire for sleep. He grasped his sword and tried to lift it out of the stone- his strength left him however, and he could do little more than shake it.

"Can't… give up…" He muttered. "Can't… can't..."

He said nothing else as he fell into unconsciousness and the darkness of pained slumber.

Trent cursed as he ran to check the other man, trusting that Issei could handle the wounded Fallen while he was gathering his friend. Scooping the man off the ground and checking his head for any wounds, he was glad to find none.

He took a bracing breath and hefted Josh in his arms, and charged to where he left the teens. The Canuck wasn't sure how long the other man would last like this, but he wasn't interested in testing it. Even with the park empty, he'd rather all of this taken care of quickly.

Coming upon the two, he found Issei standing before the nun, Twice Critical gleaming proudly on his arm, glaring down at a further bruised duo of Mittelt and Kalawarner. It was clear from the scene that the wounded Fallen had thrown themselves at the teens, and that the brunet had defended the blonde.

Making a point to kick the Fallen as he passed, Trent locked eyes with Asia as he gently put Josh down before her and asked, "Can you please heal my friend, Miss Argento? I'll be sure to take care of these two while you do so."

The shorter blonde nodded jerkily, a pair of rings winking into existence on her fingers as she bent over the insensate Josh. A soft, warm glow issued from them and pooled on his stomach wound, his breathing smoothing out as it proceeded.

Standing to his full height, Trent reached out and put a hand on Issei's shoulder. The younger man was clearly shaken, but was doing his best to keep it together. The Canadian was honestly having trouble keeping his queasiness off his face, but offered his friend a nod, "You did good Issei, keep watch over Asia and Josh while I deal with the trash."

"What are you going to do to them?"

The question stopped Trent from turning away, noting the tension in Issei's stance as he sighed. He squared his shoulders, trying to look resolute as he answered, "We can't have anyone stumbling upon these four, someone's going to have to dispose of them."

"B-but, what about taking the survivors prisoner? We can totally do that!" The brunet argued, fear in his eyes at the thought of what might happen.

Trent shook his head as he reached down and grabbed the still living Fallen by their legs, trying to ignore the blood caking Kalawarner's ankle as he got ready to drag them away. The blond sighed again as he offered an apologetic look to Issei, "That's why I offered them the chance to walk away, so no noise had to be made over this. But taking them prisoner would probably require us to turn them over to either Miss Sitri or Miss Gremory, and would jack up the tensions between the Devils and the Fallen far more than anyone with a brain would like."

Even as he started to trudge to where he'd left Raynare's corpse, he remarked, "I wish they'd just taken my offer for them to walk away."

{~}{~}

Trent let Asia and Issei be, so the girl could heal Josh while the brunet mulled over what had happened.

The Canadian heaved another sigh as he tossed the two down beside the body of their leader, and materialized a gun in his hand. He quickly dispatched the duo, ignoring their pleas and promises with a mute sensation of sickness in his chest.

He hastily collected the nearly decapitated Dohnaseek and dragged him over to the pile of bodies.

The nausea in his stomach roiled as he stared down at them, his breath coming in short bursts as he tried to calm down. With a few bracing breaths, he centered himself, and reached into Nobunaga's abilities.

The guns were easy to pull out and use.

The Standlike manifestation of her Reality Marble had responded once, but he'd never succeeded after the first try.

But now he wanted something more basic, more intrinsic to Nobunaga's abilities and Reality Marble than either of those things.

Flames licked around his hand and forearm as the power answered, the crimson fire feeling warm despite the heat haze rising off it. He knelt before the bodies and reached out.

As the bodies caught fire, and the flames rapidly spread over them, Trent murmured as if in prayer.

"Let all things divine and mysterious be burned away…"

The Canadian pulled out a cellphone from his pocket, quickly tabbing to a saved number and hitting call. With the device against his ear, he watched the corpse pile as he listened to the tone on the other end. When the person on the other end picked up, he felt the words catch in his throat, allowing them to speak, "Blackmore? Is everything okay?"

He let out a shuddering breath, the impact of what had happened just minutes ago causing his gut to wrench. After steeling himself, he managed to reply, "Miss Gremory, just earlier Josh, Issei, and I were attacked by a quartet of Fallen Angels. We've dispatched them, and I'm taking care of the remains now."

The Devil on the other end simply listened to that and digested the information, after a few moments of silence she asked, "Do any of you need healing or anything? I'm sure we could work out a deal of some sort…"

"No, we were lucky, their target has a healing type Sacred Gear and is willing to heal up our scrapes and such. I was just contacting you to make sure you knew everything was handled," Trent answered while trying to make it sound like everything was under control.

Nothing was under control.

Josh ended up with a fucking hole in his stomach, for fucks' sake!

And on his end… well, it was pretty clear to him that he'd flown off the handle with Raynare, something he'd always tried not to do. He knew that Class Cards could affect their wielders in a multitude of ways, and that was clear from Josh's own reactions to Okita's tuberculosis. The blond frowned at the thought, that Nobunaga was drawing out his darker impulses, and had caused him to torture Raynare as he did.

Trent sighed audibly, focusing on just letting the flames burn as he tried to relax, to keep the bile surging in him from escaping.

"This is the worst…"

He hadn't even realized that he still had the phone held up next to his head until Rias piped up, "Blackmore, are you sure you're okay? You don't sound like it."

The Canadian sighed again, "It's nothing you need to worry about Miss Gremory, I'm just discovering how my own Install is affecting me. It's not as bad as Josh's, so really, nothing to worry about."

He ignored her protest as he continued. "Listen, I'm going to let you go, head back to the others and make sure they're alright. Don't want anything unwanted sneaking up on them."

With that, he ended the call, and dispersed the flames, leaving nothing behind but ash to be scattered by the wind. Trent turned on his heel and headed back to the group, noting that Asia was still healing Josh while Issei stood guard.

Nodding to the pair of them, he asked, "You two still good?"

Issei jumped at the Canuck's voice, before relaxing. His face was ghostly pale from everything that had happened here, hands jittering and shaking.

"Ye… yeah," The boy said lamely, running a hand through his hair. "It's just… a lot to deal with, y'know."

Asia looked up from her task of healing the Irishman. The hole in his stomach was closing nicely, but even so. He had been stabbed by a Light Spear, that kind of wound wouldn't just close without issue. Josh would probably be left with a scar.

"Yes, I'm fine as well Mister Blackmore," The girl answered, brow furrowed in concentration. She bit her lip. "I'm… sorry for all of this happening. If I had just gone with Raynare…"

Before Trent could answer, Issei jumped in. He stood tall in front of the holy girl, determination clear in his face. It was clear that he didn't understand what she said, but got the feeling behind it.

"No way!" He declared loudly. "No way in hell was this because of you, Asia! This was them, just them. Yu-Raynare, and those other guys."

The boy struggled to articulate himself despite the language barrier, breathing out heavily and wincing at his own mention of his ex-whatever.  
"I'd do this all over again to protect you," Issei swore, with a conviction of iron. "We all would… right?"

Trent smiled, reached out and put a hand on Asia's head, ruffling her hair as he declared, "Definitely, couldn't let a genuinely good hearted person get dragged away by a group of ruffians like them. And Asia, don't worry about it, this was something the lot of us would have likely done anyway."

His eyes then turned to Issei, inquiring, "Did you give Miss Shido a call while I was dealing with the… refuse, as it were? I let Gremory know what occurred, but didn't give her too many details."

The Hyoudou nodded, his phone clenched in his hand.

"Yeah. I, uh," He stammered a bit, still affected by the fight, before clearing his throat. "Irina was really not happy about this. She said she was on her way too."

Issei looked around the cracked and destroyed area, before he nearly toppled over. He put his hands on his thighs and dry heaved, back shuddering.

Removing his hand from Asia's head and putting it on the younger man's back, he gave him a few reassuring pats. After a few moments of conflicted thought, he admitted, "Honestly Issei, I'm doing my best to hold it together myself. I just killed three people, and the ease I did it with terrifies me. Sure, I did it to protect you and Asia, but still…"

The blond shook his head.

"I'd do it again in an instant and I don't regret making sure you two are safe, but the ease I did it with, and how I went off on Raynare…" Trent trailed off, not really knowing how to continue.

Issei nodded wordlessly, rubbing his face. His eyes grew serious, more serious than they had been before.

"...I need to get stronger," He muttered to himself, looking back at Asia and the downed Josh. "I need to get stronger. Even if this is just a Twice Critical… I need to be able to fight."

He looked down pensively at his red gauntlet. The green gem shined ominously as he did so, a little brighter than before.

Asia let out a surprised noise, drawing their attention.

"I've managed to close the wound! He should wake up soon!" She informed the two and even as she did so, grunts of pain came from her patient.

Sluggishly, Josh's eyes opened. He couldn't see anything other than blobs for a while, but he rose a shaking hand to his face and slapped himself.

"Fuck…" He slurred, still not fully awake. "What… what time is it? I was having a nice nap."

"If you were dreaming of the Sanzu or the Styx, then I'm glad that you didn't cross it," Trent replied, quite glad that his friend hadn't given up the ghost.

"Me too," Josh replied, struggling to his feet with Asia's assistance. "Thanks, Asia."

"It's nothing," She replied with a sunny smile and a sigh of relief. "I'm just glad you're alright."

Me too, he noted to himself. Taking a shaky look around, he saw the carnage and the destruction of the fountain area. His eyes glanced over the piles of ash that were blowing into the wind, destined to be scattered.

He gave a single, tired look at Trent.

"So…" Josh wondered, chewing over his words. "What do we do now?"

The blond shrugged and collapsed into a squat, "Well, I've already contacted Gremory, and apparently Shido's on her way. I say we all just find some benches and collapse."

No-one saw any need to do otherwise, and Irina found them wearily resting near the park entrance.


	10. Chapter 10

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**

 **Chapter 10**

-X-X-X-X-

Trent sighed as Irina glared down at the four of them, clearly unimpressed with the fact that they'd gotten into a fight with the Fallen in the area. He went to speak, but she cut him off as she set her gaze on poor Asia, and asked, "And just who is this?"

"Her name's Asia, she can't speak Japanese. I'd recommend English or Italian," The Canadian answered blithely, still feeling sick over what he'd done just a short while ago.

The Excalibur wielder's gaze soured as she took in Asia's features and dress style, and she hissed, "Asia _Argento_? What are you all doing associating with a witch?"

"Well, for one, she's a good kid who honestly just wants to help people, and second… well, we weren't just going to let some psychotic Fallen take her for a joyride," Trent shot back, reaching out to pat Asia's shoulder even as he kept his gaze locked on Irina.

Josh hauled himself up, staggering against Asia's shoulder. He nearly fell again before Issei caught him. He gave an appreciative smile to the teenager, before meeting Irina's eye.

"Yeah… kinda killed a bunch of Fallen a little bit ago," The Irishman confirmed, nodding over to the ashes still blowing in the wind. "Guess they're roast Fallen by now."

Irina's eyes narrowed even more at the group, peering over at the ashes before muttering to herself seriously. Josh blinked- he hadn't ever heard of Irina being _serious_ , so this must be something important.

The twin-tailed girl looked at Asia, and began conversing with her in Italian. Asia's eyes brightened at someone knowing her language, and talked back with vigour. She turned her eyes down at certain things said by her opposite, and bit her lip at others.

Eventually, the conversation ended, and Irina said something the Irishman was [i]sure [/i]was an Italian curse word.

Her eyes turned back to the two older men, biting her lip.

"A number of Fallen were transporting Asia to the local Church, for protection apparently," She informed them. "What they really wanted with her, I don't know. But this… this is serious."

"Serious? Why?" Issei questioned, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Well, consider the fact that this is the territory of two Devils, both of whom are related to the current leaders of the Devil Government. This is like someone's _trying_ to spark a conflict between the Fallen and the Devils, and it's half the reason why I decided to interfere the way I did," The blond explained, reaching his right thumb over his index finger and pulling, cracking the knuckle. "As for Asia… the only way we could really know what they wanted would have been to interrogate them, or to go and investigate the local Church."

"Then why don't we do that? I mean, I know where it is!" The brunet exclaimed, hopping to his feet and startling Asia.

It was Irina who cut in, shaking her head as she did so, "Except for the fact that they could very well have forces waiting there, or traps of some sort. Going in guns blazing doesn't always work out, especially for things like this."

"Then there's the fact that Josh is still recovering from his throwdown with hat-Fallen, and that you and Asia probably are a bit more tired than you actually think you are." Trent added in with a shrug. "And honestly, we'd probably be better off getting the Devils' help investigating. As much as we don't want to start anything, it's only polite and they have far more manpower than we do."

"Alright, alright, I get it. Josh needs time to heal, and then we need help from the senpais," Issei clarified aloud with a nod, earning him a thumbs up from Trent.

Irina then spoke, "The real question is what do we do with Argento? Keeping her around could be dangerous in terms of keeping off the radar."

Josh stumbled forward on his own feet, standing to his full height in front of Irina. He peered down at her, face cold as stone despite his heavy breaths.

"Asia's not going _anywhere_ ," He said, in a tone that reflected the matter was closed. "I don't care about being off the radar, but I'm gonna try my best to protect her- that's it."

Yes. Josh might be inclined to thinking very lowly of people he didn't know, or just not giving a shit about people's opinions… but Asia was different. She was innocent, and knowing what Raynare planned to do with her, with a chance for them to stop it… he'd fight for her.

As long as she was _here_ , and alive, he would do his best for her. Asia deserved that much.

Memories of darker times flashed behind his eyes, before he looked again at Irina.

The brown-haired Church member looked away and sighed for a long moment. The girl pinched between the bridge of her nose, before turning back.

"It's not that simple," She said at last. "We can't even hope to get the Church involved in protective measures, because of her actions-"

Issei made a noise, stepping forward. "Wait, what actions? What did Asia do?"

The Exorcist stopped talking in her tracks, staying strangely silent. Asia turned her cheerful eyes down, wringing her hands together. The boy looked between them, clearly clueless.

"C'mon! If it's so important that your guys can't get involved, shouldn't we know?" He asked again, more forcefully.

Irina let out a heavy sigh, before turning to her childhood friend. "Issei, it's… not easy to talk about."

Josh lent back from the conversation, stomach turning to ice. He knew what Asia had done in canon, knew it applied here too. He expected it even to be addressed- but not for some time.

His veins already began to boil over the Church's hypocrisy, but held himself back.

Trent sighed at the sight of things getting heated and declared, "Asia's a victim of a Devil who targets nuns or particularly pious women, he likes to get them thrown out of their faiths and then appear as a saviour before them. And then, when he has them where he wants them… he _breaks_ them, when he's done, he either kills them or takes his favourites as members of his peerage."

Irina and Issei's eyes snapped to him, rage burning in the young man's gaze at what Diodora had planned while the young exorcist seemed to be trying to figure out the implications of what had been said. The blond reached back and scratched at the back of his neck as he continued, "So Irina, cut back on the venom, she didn't know that the man she was healing was a devil. And honestly, I'm with Josh on this matter, I'd rather protect Asia than throw her to the wolves."

"You and the senpais said that the Devils were trying to keep things from escalating and starting a war though! So why is this guy doing this?" The brunet growled, clearly affected by what had happened to his new friend.

Rather than Trent, it was Irina who answered, "Every group has its own internal factions, as well as its own criminals. I'm going to assume that this fellow is from a different faction of Devil than Gremory and Sitri."

"More that he's a sociopathic brat who doesn't care about anything other than his own fun and enjoyment," The canuck spat, feeling none too charitable towards Diodora Astaroth.

Issei didn't look satisfied with that, even as he pointed out, "But the Senpais are related to bigwigs! Maybe if we told them, they could do something about this guy!"

"That runs into two issues kiddo. The first is that he'd probably get support from the old war hounds in the Devils as well as from those who see themselves as superior to all others," Trent explained as he leaned back against the bench he was sitting on. "The second is that he's also related to someone [i]very[/i] important in the Devil political world, though their relationship is distant at best."

Issei gritted his teeth so much they could hear the grinding, veins pulsing on his neck. Josh eyed the boy's building rage, but found himself lost for words- what could he say that hadn't already been said?

"Look, the best place for Asia at the minute would probably be at the Academy," He intervened, drawing the attention of everyone. "Even if they have forces built up, they'd be hesitant to march on it. Sona and Rias are related to the bigwigs after all."

Even if Freed was the only one left, the crazed bastard had to be reluctant to attack Kuoh Academy. Attacking it would be pure suicide at best, guaranteeing assured self-destruction. Though it would only buy them a little time- Freed himself was powerful for an Exorcist, and he had stuff that was basically a Devil's anthema.

He sighed again, playing with Okita's Class Card.

Damned if they did and damned if they didn't, really.

Irina seemed to think over something, before nodding to herself. Stepping forward, her eyes were strong.

"If these Fallen have additional forces, they'll only come back later. Moving to the Academy would be a good bet," Irina admitted extremely reluctantly. "I can get in touch with my father… he might be able to do _something_ for this."

She reached into her pocket for her phone, hand running along the ribbon on her arm.

Asia said some more sudden words in Italian, having apparently forgotten to mention it. Irina whipped her head around, questioning the girl heatedly. Once her line of inquiry was done, the girl's face was pale.

"That guy's here? Damn it," She cursed to herself, ringing her phone with increasing urgency. "Freed Sellzen…"

"Mm, that's another fly in the ointment," Trent remarked as he pulled himself to his feet, grunting as he did so. "We'd definitely be better off getting the Devils' help if that psycho's skulking around."

Issei looked about ready to run off, dragging Asia behind him at those words, but stopped when the blond declared, "I'll phone Rias and let her know that we're on our way. Josh, you wanna call Sona, or should I just ask Rias to let her know?"

Josh thought about it, before deciding on his course of action. "I'll call Sona- it'll be faster with the both of us at it."

He pulled out his own phone, and semi-reluctantly, punched in the Sitri heir's number. His heart pounded as the tone rang, but he pushed all that back down.

With that, Trent pulled his own phone from his pocket and hit the redial function as he brought it to his ear. After a few tones, it was picked up, and Rias spoke before he could manage to greet her. After a few moments of listening, the blond sighed and let her know what had happened on their, particularly in regards to Asia, and if she and Sona would be willing to keep her at the Academy for her protection.

Rias, being a total softy, agreed in a heartbeat.

Josh sighed as he talked to Sona, telling her of the details of recent events. Her tone was clinical, inquisitive and to the point. Pointedly, neither of them addressed his reactions to her, focusing only on the events. He heard a sigh over her line, and it clicked off the next moment.

He put his phone back into his pocket, aware that Sona was probably going to have a hell of a day.

Trent looked over the group and declared, "Well, Rias is with us bringing Asia over and with protecting her. Josh, what'd Sona have to say on the matter?"

The Irishman sighed. "She agreed, but she made it clear she's… not looking forward to this."

"I mean, she's a bit of a sourpuss at times, so I'm not really surprised," Trent admitted as he got ready to head out, best not to dawdle given the situation. He then looked to Asia and said, "We've talked to some people, and they've agreed to house and protect you while we settle this, okay?"

"Y-yes, Signor!" She declared with a resolute nod, clearly trying her best to steel herself and keep calm.

{~}{~}

The group had trundled through Kuoh, garnering a number of looks for their wariness, but when they arrived at the school, they found Akeno and Tsubaki waiting for them at the gate. The duo were both affecting their usual expressions, but there was a clear tension as they looked about, clearly having been on guard due to their Kings telling them the situation.

Blackmore raised a hand as they approached, causing Akeno to give them a short bow of greeting and a saucy wink while Tsubaki nodded to all of them. As they drew closer, Tsubaki declared, "Kaichou and Lady Rias are waiting for us at the Occult Research Club, please follow us."

While the devils were definitely on guard, it seemed that they were still willing to work together, though they clearly wanted all the details. While the others were used to dealing with devils, Asia wasn't and faltered a bit, earning a small smile from Trent as he murmured, "It's alright Asia, they're just on guard given what happened earlier."

Josh walked in front, body still aching with his wounds, but eager to see the business done. Asia clung to Issei, her face pale in the face of being in the midst of what she should consider enemies. Trent held the back along with Irina, as rigid as the Irishman.

Soon they reached the Occult Research Club, and proceeded into the meeting room. Rias and Sona sat side by side, looking almost like judges. Tsubaki and Akeno stood at their place behind their Kings, hands clenched together in front.

They all sat on opposing sofas, looking at each other. Nothing was said for a few moments, until Sona piped up.

"So… Asia Argento is going to stay here, whilst we prepare for an assault by Fallen forces," She surmised. "And I also heard a Rogue Exorcist is in the area?"

"Freed Sellzen, yes." Irina answered, holding up to Sona's piercing look. "He's a monster, pure and simple. No matter what protection there is, he'll kill anything."

Sona breathed out through her nose, rubbing it tensely. "...So, he will be coming too- or we should expect him at least. Wonderful."

Josh scratched his chest, his wounds still causing his limbs to feel stiff. Words came to mind for him to say, before he decided.

"I know… I know it's not ideal, Sona," He said awkwardly.

"It isn't." She replied, fast as lightning. "There hasn't been a conflict here for years, and I'm reluctant to put my people in danger."

Josh coughed, before continuing under the force of her speech. "They'll be coming _anyway_ , no matter where we take Asia. Here, we have a shot."

The Sitri heir glared at him icily, but he refused to back down on this. On other things? Sure- he wasn't afraid to admit he didn't intensely like conflict. But Asia was innocent, and he'd be damned if he wouldn't at least try to keep her safe.

"Miss Sitri, as unideal as the situation maybe, it's still better that we do things this way. At least we were able to warn you all about Freed rather than the madman ambushing one of you," Trent explained as he sat back against the couch, enjoying the feel of the cushions. "There's also the fact that outside of Freed… they've lost pretty much all their actually powerful fighters due to our earlier clash."

It was true, Freed really was the only threat left, as everyone else amounted to little more than mooks. With the Fallen dead, it was also rather likely that the stray exorcists would fracture naturally as there was no one to keep them in line.

Rather than actually continue the conversation on the state of things as they were, Rias cleared her throat and looked at Asia, "So you're miss Argento? It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Rias Gremory and beside me is my friend, Sona Sitri. I understand that you might have difficulty trusting us due to your background, but please, be at ease as we mean you no harm."

"Oh, um, thank you very much miss Gremory, miss Sitri, and I'm sorry about any trouble I've caused," The blonde squeaked as she gave a bow to the devils, her own nervous demeanour causing Rias to coo a little at the sight. Asia's natural charm was powerful indeed.

The Sitri heiress exhaled as she deflated slightly, and explained, "Oh, you're hardly at fault miss Argento, and I'm sure that our mutual friends will be more than able to make it up to us." As she said that, she sent a pointed look at the Canuck and the Celt, clearly annoyed with the fact that they had dragged the devils into this matter.

"Yeah, Asia, don't get down on yourself over this, as you're ultimately the victim here," Trent added comfortingly, reaching out to pat her head. "Besides, Raynare was hardly happy with Josh, Issei, and I, so there's a good chance that we might have ended up involved anyways."

The former nun made a small noise, but didn't seem too convinced as she shuffled her feat awkwardly. The moment was ended by Sona clearing her throat and asking, "Rias mentioned that you had dealt with the remains of the Fallen you encountered, are you sure that there's nothing that can be traced back to you or us?"

"Not unless ash in the wind can be traced," The blond replied as he fought down the sickness in his stomach at the thought of what he had done. Dealing with the bodies had been necessary, but given how it happened…

"Yeah… We just need to take care of anything that comes our way," Josh agreed, looking at his friend's paling face. "We should probably set up stuff outside, yeah?"

Sona nodded, thoughts already turning to plans and traps they could place. "It will take time, but that can be done, yes."

The Irishman nodded, rubbing his face tiredly, blinking away the encroaching shadows.

Sona looked over at Rias. "We need to talk about preparations, and what else we need to do."

The Gremory heir nodded, before turning a compassionate eye to their audience. "Please, feel free to stay here for the time being and recover. You'll need to be at full strength if anything comes."

Josh nodded, standing up stiffly- he looked over at Sona, who looked back at him impassively, before he turned to march out and to a place he could _sleep_.

"It's good you didn't die, Josh," Her sudden statement caught him off-guard. "Dying to them… doesn't seem as if it would suit you."

He said nothing, but inclined his head in agreement and continued out, a lightness in his steps.

Trent, meanwhile, shared a look with Rias, the pair of them putting their hands over the lower halves of their faces to hide the smiles that they were wearing. Even in the current situation, watching Josh and Sona circle each other awkwardly was still fun.

Still, they couldn't enjoy the moment too long, as Sona gave something of a huff before standing and leaving the building, Tsubaki trailing behind her. "I'll start setting up the protections. Don't take too long flirting, Rias."

The redhead squawked in embarrassment, as Akeno started chuckling behind her. The blond joined in the laughter for a few moments, before looking to Asia, who had clearly started to relax with the show put on in front of her. With a nod towards the devils, he remarked, "They might be devils, but they aren't bad people."

"No," Asia relied, smiling a little. "They're not, are they?"


	11. Chapter 11

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**  
 **Chapter 11**

-X-X-X-X-

An hour or so later, sitting in one of the more relaxing rooms of the Academy, Josh looked out through the windows. The sky was turning orange, and the clouds were gradually slipping away as night encroached.

He sighed, running his hand slowly through his messed up hair. Everything felt heavy, even after Asia had tried healing him. His chest still burned albeit lightly, and his arms felt like they had iron shackled to them.

The Irishman peered tiredly down at his hand, and clenched it into a fist, taking some pleasure in the sensation of his nails digging into his palm. At least it meant he wasn't totally nerve-dead, which was a plus.

"Damn it…" He muttered to himself, looking at the cause of his trouble. "Why the fuck is this happening to me?"

Okita's Class Card simply glimmered in the dying light of the outside, the engraved image of a swordsman silent.

Josh clicked his tongue and furrowed his brow, an impulsive flood of anger filling him. He rushed to his feet and grabbed the Card roughly. He squeezed it, seized by a thought of crumbling it, but the Card didn't even get a scratch or rip.

It just pissed him off more.

He gritted his teeth painfully, continuing to glare at his Card.

Logically, he knew this was the result of Installing Okita- her tuberculosis was always going to be a part of her Saint Graph, so it definitely would affect him. But he'd never really understood that fact before, or what it meant truly.

Okita coughing up blood was always hilarious in FGO and the GudaGuda events- especially if it happened in combat. But this world wasn't GudaGuda or a Type-Moon property- which meant any consequences he suffered were going to be serious.

In the middle of a fight… coughing up blood would just result in him losing a battle and dying. Neither of which he was much a fan of.

But still, even if he accepted these facts, it was still fucking annoying.

"Why the hell can't I get a break?!" The Irishman let out an exasperated breath, frustration apparent. "Just… come on!"

The Irishman sat back down into the comfy chair, leaning back into the red cushions. His eyes closed for a second, and the young man let himself almost be absorbed into the seat- it did wonders for the aches and pains he still felt throughout his body.

He floated in a restful bliss, totally ignorant of the world outside.

"Are you well-rested yet?" A familiar voice cut through the peace. It had the tone of someone without time for bullshit. "We still need to prepare several things."

Languidly, Josh's eyes opened- to find Sona Sitri, in all her icy glory, leaning against the opened doorway. Her blue eyes looked him over impassively, as if she couldn't care, but she ever so slightly raised an eyebrow at him.

Embarrassed and surprised at her presence, Josh leaned forward out of his refuge and raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey Sona," He called out, grunting as a bone cracked somewhere inside him pleasantly. "Still a bit stiff, but I can deal with it."

The Irishman's tone was light, with no indication that anything was wrong. But the Sitri heir narrowed her eyes and walked forward determinedly, shoes clacking against the tiles. Bringing a seat with her from across the room, she placed it in front of Josh's own seat, and sat down primly in it.

Josh's eyes fell on her again, and he couldn't help but think that she sort of looked like a police interrogator. Something foreboding bubbled in his stomach- he had an idea he wouldn't like where this would go.

"Are you sure?" She asked pointedly, blue eyes briefly looking at the Card in his hand. "You had a bad illness attack, and nearly died against a Fallen. Most people wouldn't be alright after that."

Josh made a face, the uncomfortable memories coming to the fore again.

"I'm fine," He repeated, despite the way his stomach turned. "Asia healed me up anyway- I'm as good as n-"

"Don't lie to me." Sona cut through his denial sharply, as if she was using a sword. Her eyes furrowed at him, and her posture changed. Shifting from interrogator to judge.

Josh's voice failed him, and he couldn't make any noise or speech to defend himself. Instead, he wilted against Sona's verbal insult, sinking dejectedly into his chair.

"You are not fine, Josh. I might not know you for very long, but I would like to think I can judge someone well," She continued lethally. "I have to be, in order to pick out Peerage members."

Sona leaned forward, her elbows on her knees and hands clasped in front of her face. Her glasses seemed to glint dangerously, and Josh was suddenly very aware that Sona was not taking any bullshit.

"So tell me how are you really feeling." It wasn't a question, but an order- one made out of caring. "And don't try to fool me."

In the face of it, Josh felt himself conflicted, before he sighed and stopped trying to destroy his Class Card or using it as a stress ball. He sat back against his chair, taking a few moments to get himself in order.

"I didn't like nearly dying," He admitted, fully and completely. "I don't like not being able to control how I go, y'know? It's just... "

Josh couldn't accurately describe the feeling, but Sona nodded curtly, understanding him.

"I've always wanted to live, no matter what," The Irishman continued after that silence. "So nearly dying… it's not something I ever wanted to experience. It's… disconcerting, not being able to control my own fate."

He'd always been like that, ever since seven years before, and maybe even before then. The concept of dying because of someone else always terrified him- of the potential that each day could be his last, and that he'd never be able to stop it.

Not being able to experience certain things, or do stuff- or even live to old age. The possibility that Josh could die young and unfulfilled was just… his worst nightmare. Made worse by what happened before.

Memories of waking up terrified in the night rose up again, before he quashed them with a hammer.

"I probably should be freaking out a bit more," The Irishman admitted at last. "But this is how I've always been- whenever I go through shit like this… I just take it and lock it down, deep down."

His lips quirked up apologetically. "It's kind of refreshing, not feeling anything. Let's me focus."

Sona eyed him again but not with strictness, but maybe a kind of concern? He really couldn't tell most times, whenever someone gave him subtle looks. The Irishman just really didn't get the subtleties of social interactions.

"That's not healthy," The Sitri heir said to him at last, her voice softening. "It's detrimental to your health."

Josh shrugged apologetically again, a half-smile forming from his lips.

"I guess, but it's something I can't change," He said airily. "Don't think it ever will."

They sat in silence after that, listening to the chirping of the birds and the rushing of the wind, watching together as the sun kept on setting rapidly. To Josh, it was quite the beautiful sight- how the day changed to night within just a few hours.

He peered over at Sona, and his breath seized in his chest again.

She sat there, in complete control of herself, looking out the window too. Her eyes never wavered, and the Devil was the very picture- at least to him- of dignity. It was awe-inspiring.

Her eyes caught his all of a sudden, and he wrenched his gaze away, suddenly aware he'd been staring at her a bit. A flush rose up his neck- how the hell did he let himself fall into the same pattern? Again?!

But it was a relaxing atmosphere anyway- better than the fight earlier, even. The Irishman clenched his hand into a fist again, watching curiously as the pains withered away. He remembered Sona's full question again, and answered.

"Still a bit sore, but I'll be fine in a bit," He answered truthfully, and the tension seemed to drain out of Sona's shoulders. "Nothing too bad, anyway."

The Sitri nodded in understanding. After a moment, she shifted forward, looking directly at him.

"It's a bit cliche of me to say," Sona voiced, taking her glasses and wiping them clean. "But just remember: you have people here. Trent and Sister Asia, Issei and Rias, and the rest of us."

She put her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose, and the ice in her eyes seemed to melt a bit.

"Don't think you need to shoulder feelings like this alone, Josh." Sona said, and her voice was filled with such life that the Irishman couldn't help but take notice. "It's better to be honest and let them heal, than let them fester."

She got up after finishing her speech, and walked to the opened door. Before she crossed over, her feet halted, hand frozen on the door. She peered back at him, and he got the impression she wanted to say something else, but she froze up again- her moment of vulnerability ended.

"Mine and Rias' peerages are continuing preparations around the grounds," She told him. "We expect the assault to begin soon."

Sona shifted, so that she was half-facing him- and the doorway was clear of obstruction. She looked down, thinking about something and biting her lip, before she looked up at the Irishman again.

"...We would gladly accept your help in fortifying the school," The Devil admitted. "If you are able for it."

Josh looked down wordlessly at his Class Card, wondering what he should do- before with a determined light in his eye, he stood up and marched forward, clasping his Card tightly.

There was absolutely no choice at all.

"Yeah, I can help a little. Not sure what use I'll be though," He admitted, as they walked down the hallway together. "...Thanks for that, Sona, before I forget."

The Sitri said nothing, but if one looked closer they might spot a ghost of a smile adorning her lips.

-X-X-X-X-

While Josh was in conversation with Sona, his Canadian counterpart had instead remained in the room that they'd been received by the devils. While the others had broken off to set up and prepare for any sort of attack in response to the freeing of Asia, he had let himself sink into thought.

He was uncomfortable with how things had gone earlier, not just in the fact that he'd all but jumped into a fight with the Fallen, but how it had ended. He'd fallen to his darker impulses and tortured the trio of Fallen left to him, while his overconfidence in the superiority of the cards meant that he'd left Josh alone long enough to be critically wounded.

Trent scrapped a hand through his sandy hair, trying to find some sort of emotional center as he knew there was a good chance that they'd end up in a fight soon enough. Flexing his hands, he could all but imagine the guns in his hands, his index fingers twitching just enough to pull the triggers.

He exhaled, annoyed that he was just thinking himself in circles. As the Canuck went to stand and do something productive, the door to the room opened, and in stepped Rias. The redhead offered him a small smile as she asked, "Blackmore, I came to see if you'd join us in fortifying our position. If you're not too busy?"

"I'd be willing to help, though I don't know how useful I'd be in truth, but…" The blond didn't like talking to people he didn't trust about his issues, and while he trusted Rias as an associate, she wasn't a friend. Still, that step couldn't be taken without trust. "Miss Gremory, would you mind terribly if I… vented to you about something?"

"I wouldn't exactly mind, but I'd ask why you'd choose to do so with me," The heiress admitted as she walked into the room proper and sat primly on the couch opposite him.

Leaning back against the seat he was occupying, Trent sighed as he admitted, "Honestly, it's because Josh is likely dealing with his own issues, and Issei's… well, I hardly think I should burden him with this sort of talk."

"Not thinking of talking to Shido?" Rias inquired curiously, genuine surprise painting her features.

The blond snorted, his features twisting wryly at the thought, "While Shido and I are allied in wanting to help Issei grow strong enough to stand on his own in the Supernatural World, I get the feeling that she's not entirely comfortable with me." As he said it, he almost laughed, as he'd been the one to assert that they should work with the Devils, something that he wouldn't be surprised drove a wedge between him and her.

"I suppose I can understand that," The redhead hummed idly, considering the things that he'd implied with that simple statement. Crossing her arms beneath her chest, she continued, "So, just what is eating away at you? What happened earlier with the Fallen?"

"Well, things that happened during and after the encounter," Trent admitted wearily, his eyes turning downcast as his thoughts turned back to earlier in the day. "I don't regret killing the Fallen, and I don't regret the fight itself. I just wish that I'd realized how much my own card was affecting me."

Rias blinked, obviously surprised by the direction the conversation was taking. "I thought that your card didn't cause any sort of issues for you, like Josh's does."

"No physical issues, and honestly, it likely wouldn't be considering a drawback in general, but it does bother me," The Canadian murmured as he withdrew Nobu's Class Card from his pocket, the card seeming to thrum in against his fingertips. "I won't get into the nitty gritty of how these work, for a variety of reasons, but suffice to say, mine essentially draws out my more… questionable impulses. Nothing horrible, but certainly destructive and cruel."

"And that means?"

Leaning back and turning his gaze toward the ceiling, he answered, "I tortured one of the Fallen, something that I'd be liable to consider doing in the dark corners of my mind but not actually go through with. I'm willing to admit that I'm a sadist, but I've never gone that far…"

"And you're worried that you might continue down that path?" Rias asked, a reassuring smile on her face, her posture relaxing as she came to her own conclusions.

With a shake of his head, Trent chuckled, "Oh, no, no. Now that I know that it's an issue, it's something I can watch for, and work to control." He tapered off, letting his point hang as he thought on the point.

"I just don't like that I lost control in the first place."

The sentence was simple, a small but weighty admission of his own issue. One of his thumbs traveled over a finger, pulling it down and causing the joint to pop loudly. With that calming action, the blond exhaled, "And I'm upset that Josh got as hurt as he did. I keep looking back and thinking about what would have happened if Issei had been the one to engage the male Fallen, about what would have happened if Asia hadn't been there. What would have happened if I'd indulged too much in my sadism and got there too late."

Nausea pooled in his stomach, his jaw aching like he was going to be violently sick where he sat. He clenched his hands into fists and forced himself to breath deeply, to relax and get some oxygen into his body.

"But those things didn't happen." Rias's words cut through the gloom that Trent seemed to be building up, her tone low and soothing. "You're alive, Josh is alive, Issei's fine, and Asia's safe. You don't have to worry about those thoughts."

The Canadian laughed darkly, "Yeah, but I can't help but think them. I know it's not healthy, but…"

"But you worry about them and want them to be safe." As Rias said that, he nodded with her words, the sentiment bringing the two to an understanding. Leaning back a bit herself, the devil chuckled, "We certainly have some unruly kids, don't we?"

"Mm, but mine are pretty manageable, I think. Though the new one I picked up is pretty sheltered," Trent opined, a small smile working its way onto his features at the thought.

Shaking her head ruefully, Rias sighed, "Well, at least she's not a shut-in, as one of my poor children is. I love him dearly, but sometimes I wish I could help him better."

"Well, I have one with boneitis, so we both have our troubles," The blond commiserated, earning a chuckle from the heiress.

As the two's laughter died down, they settled into a companionable silence which was broken when Rias cleared her throat. "Ahem, well, shall we go and join the others?"

Feeling a soft warmth beneath his fingertips, Trent tucked away the Class Card and stood from his seat.

"Let's mosey."

{~}{~}

As the groups went about reinforcing the school, carefully ensuring that they wouldn't be surprised by an assault in case the Fallen had some sort of reinforcements. Josh and Trent had joined up with the different peerages, and while they weren't able to help much, they did their best to provide the only support they could, moral support.

Still, it wasn't long before something decided to go sideways.

The various Devils perked up, their expressions hardening as something got their attention. As they broke out into sprints toward the entrance to the school, their allies were forced to run after them, confused and unsure as to the sudden need to urgently be elsewhere.

Arriving at the school gates, they found Issei locked in combat with a white haired exorcist, the red gauntlet on his left arm glowing gloriously as it clashed with the exorcist's light sword. With a move learned through sparring with the various sword wielders, Issei let the blade slide down the length of his forearm and used the opening to slam his fist into the exorcist's snarling visage.

The amassed Devils blinked at the sight of the pervert pushing back the exorcist, though they kept an eye on the small group of exorcists who weren't helping the one clashing with Issei. Irina, who had arrived a few moments after the others, gasped as she recognized the one fighting her childhood friend, "Freed Sellzen!"

"Mhm, a lovely fiend, let loose from the Church's fold, and essentially given free rein to go wild," Trent muttered, watching the clash as he fingered the Class Card in his pocket, ready to jump in if necessary.

Josh felt himself stiffen in tension, eyeing the rogue Exorcist with a dirty eye and an angry heart beating away. His hand gripped his Class Card tightly.

The twin tailed blonde swivelled to glare at him, rage and fear warring on her face as she protested, "He's an experienced and powerful fighter, we can't just let Ise fight him alone!"

Before anyone could reply, Issei slammed his elbow into the exorcist's back, only to receive a strike to his stomach that set him stumbling. Still, the brunet didn't lose his footing, and instead righted himself, roaring out loud, "I don't care if you're some super exorcist or whatever, or if you worked for Yuu- Raynare! I'm sick and tired of not being able to do anything, of being told to stay back, so I'm gonna stop you right here! I'm not gonna let you touch Asia!"

As he shouted that, he threw his fist forward in a wild punch, his pent up anger and desire to grow stronger fueling the strike. Even more miraculous was the green glow that exploded out from his Sacred Gear, and the sound of one word being shouted in a voice no there had heard before.

[BOOST!]

The shout caught many of them off guard, even momentarily disarming Freed, allowing Issei's strike to land on his cheek, sending him tumbling across the ground. Issei panted as he stood tall, the Twice Critical on his arm having transformed to look more draconic and regal, and far more dangerous, with an emerald orb glowing on the back of his left hand.

Trent couldn't help the wolfish grin that crossed his features, at the sight, and he laughed, "How wonderful, to see the crowning of this generation's Red Dragon Emperor!"

"So, the stories were true…" Sona murmured, her icy gaze fixed on the gauntlet encasing Hyoudou's arm. "To think, he really was under our noses all this time."

Josh hummed at her side, his shoulders still tense and he eyed Freed dangerously. The man had a deranged look in his face, even more than before, but his smile was absent now- he was just staring at Issei like a predator would at prey.

"It happens," He said aloud to her, a small grin on his own face. "Though you'd think with someone like him, people would catch on easily."

Sona turned her head towards him with a withering glare. The Irishman winced as he thought over his words, and mouthed a sincere 'sorry'.

Freed straightened himself, his light sword buzzing aggressively. He furrowed his brow, eyes glinting dangerously. He shifted slightly, feet spreading apart while his free hand grabbed the gun at his side.

Issei felt sweat drip down his neck at the sight. It reminded him of a rabid wolf just waiting to pounce.

But still…

The boy's gauntleted hand clenched into a fist, his blood pumping vigorously and the green jewel set on the back of his hand glowing even brighter than before.

He'd die before he gave up Asia to this creep!

"Y'know…" The priest said, almost singing to a bad tune. "You really should give that bitch up- I'll just kill ya all 'till I get her~"

Behind Issei, Asia's eyes widened in fear, but Issei stayed tall. He planted himself in front of his charge even more than before, feet digging into the ground. His heart pulsed against with anger and determination.

"Fuck that!" He roared loudly and clearly. "And fuck you!"

[BOOST!]

Strength poured in his body, building up more and more until it felt like Issei was just a circuit looping energy. Steam emanated from his gauntlet, and even then the ground began to heat up under his feet.

With a roar, Issei lunged forward, drawing his left fist back amid the blazing red aura. Freed smirked again and raced forward, slashing his sword towards the boy's heart like a crazed butcher.

The blade clashed against the gauntlet in white sparks, neither combatant giving ground. Issei gritted his teeth, feeling his new power coursing through him- he was half expecting his gauntlet to shatter, but it surprisingly didn't.

He wrenched it away from the sword and lunged forward again, fist glowing with power. With a smirk, Freed dodged under it, spinning like a ballerina, before he shot a bullet of energy at Issei's midsection.

The boy widened his eyes as the Exorcist pulled the trigger, and forced himself to jump backwards- only getting grazed instead of shot point-blank by the bullet. He hissed in pain, gingerly touching the wound.

Damn, for a grazing shot, it hurt! Hurt way more than his exercises!

His opponent let out a low howl, whistling as he looked over his target wincing in pain. Freed licked his lips hungrily, and his eyes widened in bloodlust. His glee turned to annoyance however, as his sword began fizzling out, being pure white one second and a dirty red the next.

"Awww c'mon, you ruined my toy!" Freed complained childishly, waving his weapon back and forth. "I liked this one!"

At the side, the others let out of a breath of surprise. Josh raised an eyebrow in exasperation, mixing with the apprehension he already felt.

Could Issei beat this guy? He wasn't entirely sure- Freed was far more experienced in fighting, and his pack of Exorcists hadn't made a move, though their eyes kept flitting over to them, as if awaiting some kind of signal.

He turned his gaze back to Issei, gripping his Card tighter than before.

Having been watching the fight, Trent's eyes tightened at the sight of Issei getting wounded, and was tempted to just shoot Freed dead where he was. Rather than do that, he spoke to the others, "We should prepare to deal with the exorcists that Freed brought with him, I doubt that they're going to stay back for long."

The gathered Devils nodded and made various sounds of assent, readying their weapons and magic powers as they did so, while Irina readied her Excalibur shard. The Canadian had pulled out his Class Card, ready to use it, but paused and looked at his Celtic friend, "As for Issei and Freed… Josh, you alright with being on standby to intervene and take down Freed if need be?"

The Irishman nodded imperceptibly, lips tightening.

"Yeah… I can take him," He replied, tone cold and calculating. "Just be clear when I do."

The odd cold that always came in this sort of situation flowed up his veins, freezing them along with any emotion he felt. His heart slowed down, and he prepared to move forward.

Sona looked toward him again, narrowing her eyes. Josh's ice-cold attitude just now… it wasn't something she had ever witnessed before. He'd always been warm, if a bit awkward, but not as calm as this.

She rubbed her fingers together, standing with her Peerage. Her magic flowed through her veins, ready to explode out when the Sitri heir needed it to.

Sona couldn't be concerned about Josh right now- so she pushed the concerns back down, her icy mask raising again. She had to focus on keeping them all safe, to the best of her ability.

"Tsubaki," she whispered to her Queen. "Be ready to use Mirror Alice the first chance you have- we can't rely on Hyoudou overpowering the Exorcist."

"Yes, Sona," Tsubaki acknowledged, beginning to manifest her Sacred Gear.

The rest of her Peerage fell into formation- not obviously of course, but they had trained together long enough to know what to do. They were a well-oiled unit, honed over many months.

"Well then…" Trent murmured as he readied himself, all but whispering 'Include' to don the power of Nobunaga. He swung an arm up, and aimed it at one of Freed's entourage, a matchlock rifle appearing his grasp. "Let's get this party started."

With that declaration, he pulled the trigger.


	12. Chapter 12

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**

 **Chapter 12**

-X-X-X-X-

The fallen exorcists attempted to scatter in the face of the oncoming bullet, but it still caught one of them in the chest, causing him to go down with a sharp whine of pain. While the Devils and Irina surged towards their targets, Trent pulled his rifle back across his chest and darted forward, jabbing the barrel of his gun into the chest of another exorcist. With an almost casual pull of the trigger, he sent his target to the ground, crimson blossoming across the exorcist's chest.

He tossed the gun into the air, sending it spiralling before grabbing the barrel and slamming it into another foe who was aiming to shoot Koneko with a light pistol. The pair shared a mutual nod before diving back into the fray, the small girl's fists positively demolishing any exorcist that was herded her way by either Rias or Akeno. The two mature devils were airborne, raining electricity and destruction down on the crowd from above, keeping the exorcists from clumping up and isolating anyone completely.

Kiba was tearing into the exorcists with a ferocity that he'd not showcased before, eyes blazing with hatred as he cut down anyone he could. Saji had taken the lessons that had been drilled into him during training to heart, using his Sacred Gear for more than just siphoning energy, but to trip up exorcists or use them as makeshift flails. Meguri was darting between the exorcists, harrying them and drawing attention at inopportune moments for her targets.

Tsubasa was actively picking up and throwing exorcists into each other, ignoring the small hole that an exorcist managed to put in her stomach. Momo and Reya were working on a smaller scale than Rias and Akeno, working more to support the enthusiastic and unobservant fighters. Ruruko was working to support Sona and keep her clear of hostiles while the Student Council President sent great torrents into the crowd of enemies, even as vice-president scythed down anyone who came to close with her naginata.

Sweeping a rifle around and jamming it into the gut of an attacker, Trent barked out a laugh as he pulled the trigger, overcome by a combat high. "This party's getting crazy!"

"Here I thought that you were the quiet sort, but look at you! You're looking pretty good out here," Yura chuckled as she slid up beside him, chokeslamming an exorcist into a pair who had been looking to sneak up on Ruruko.

The blond chuckled darkly as he shot over the teal haired girl's shoulder, nailing an assailant in the shoulder and leaving him open for Saji to strike down. He shrugged exaggeratedly, a feral grin invading his features as he answered, "Honestly, I'm pretty sure that a chunk of this is mental pollution, but honestly, I don't care at the moment!" As he said that, he swept an arm out and unleashed a hail of bullets on a group of exorcists who'd been trying to clump together.

"Not gonna touch that one right now!" The devil replied as she laid into another foe.

Blackmore ducked under a sweeping slash and was rewarded with a punch to the nose that sent him staggering back and into the range of another sword wielder, who cut open his side. The Canuck snarled as blood leaked from his nose and ignored the sucking pain in his side long enough to crack the person who'd slashed him in the face. When Tsubasa took down the exorcist who punched him, he chuckled, "If you were older, I'd say that we could discuss touching after a date!"

The Rook laughed and swung back into the fray, her own movements helping keep the field around Trent open.

Wordlessly, Josh's sword sliced through the air like a graceful zephyr of wind. The exorcists that approached him, previously so confident in themselves and their light swords, found themselves missing limbs in a flurry of blood.

They shrieked in pain, shooting holy bullets at the Irishman, but he simply _disappeared in a gust of wind-_

Blood fell like a fountain once more, as one exorcist collapsed to the ground, his head missing from his neck. His comrades widened their eyes in fear at this demon swordsman, before the ones that still had sword arms gripped them tightly and advanced, robes glinting in the light.

His face was stoic and cold as he lowered himself into the stance Okita had thrown into his bones, armored hand sliding down the edge of his blade. Four opponents stood in front of him, either through bravery or stupidity, he didn't truly care much.

"You're all just dead men anyway," Josh muttered, not so much to them as to himself, trying to get some energy into his limbs. His heart felt oddly heavy from the blood he had spilled so far, but he had no time to stop.

He had to keep fighting, even as his chest began to _burn._

The fake samurai stepped forward, wind kicking up as he shot forward. His blade clashed in a shower of sparks with the light sword of an exorcist. His blade didn't chip or break from the contact with the consecrated blade, which going from the man's open-mouthed surprise, was unexpected.

"What the-" The exorcist gasped, which was his last mistake.

Josh kicked at his feet, disorienting him. The exorcist fell down on one knee, trying to balance himself from the sudden shock, before the Irishman used his strength to [i]push [/i]the clash down into the enemy's shoulder. He bit back a moan of pain as his own light sword's edge pressed into his flesh, smoke rising from the cut even as the heat cauterised the resulting wound.

"See ya," Josh muttered as he slid his blade out of the clash, and decapitated the exorcist with a single slash.

More blood stained the ground, and some even splashed onto his borrowed haori, white mixing with red in an ominous pattern. As he looked at the three exorcists who hesitated to approach him, he felt his heart tremor from some indescribable feeling, and the young man smiled thinly.

In the light, it was almost as if his eyes were glowing ethereally.

Before he had the chance to cut up the exorcists however, a torrent of water washed over them, crashing hard enough to even break stone. The torrent swirled around chaotically until it turned itself into the shape of a serpent, before slamming once more into the ground with an almighty smash.

Josh blinked and looked to his right. Some distance away, Sona held out her hands, water dripping from just in front of her. She peered over at him, glasses glinting, before nodding. He returned the gesture, before getting back to work.

Immediately Tsubaki jumped in with her naginata, clashing with one exorcist who had something of a more muscular build than her. It did nothing to stop her however, as she performed the same tactic Josh had- using the long end of her staff to her advantage- slamming it into the exorcist's feet before hitting him on the head again.

An offensive flame suddenly threw itself at her, the product of another exorcist. Tsubaki retreated, eyes narrowing as she put her hands forward. A mirror appeared in front of her, and the flame hit it, the concrete melting.

But as the exorcist gloated privately about his victory, he saw his failure. The flame destroyed the mirror, shattered it into millions of pieces.

His body erupted into gigantic flames, spontaneously combusting. He screamed until his throat was hoarse as all his skin began burning off painfully. His last sight was a blood-stained swordsman approaching him, and sliced his head off.

"Well, this is going well," Josh said aloud as he and Tsubaki stood back to back, weapons drawn. "Better than I thought."

Tsubaki hummed in her throat as their enemies approached. "Indeed, but don't let your guard down. Overconfidence can lead to arrogance- you'll die if you do that."

Josh, despite himself, chuckled at the mini-lecture. "I guess so."

The exorcists made to run forward, but a purple line wrapped around one of their ankles. Fast as a flash, Saji ran around all of them in a circle, before pulling his Sacred Gear's line taut. The force caused the exorcists to collapse into a heap, leaving them helpless to being knocked out or killed.

The Irishman peered up from that particular task to look at Saji, who was inordinately pleased with himself.

"How'd you like those apples?!" Saji cried out, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he continued his blitz tactics, tripping enemies to make the fight easier for his comrades. "Screw you too!"

The Irishman stood for a moment, catching his breath as blood dripped from his mouth. Wiping it, he found his previous exasperation at the blonde doubling, and sighed deeply.

"...He's something, isn't it?" He asked of Tsubaki, who readjusted her glasses.

She didn't need to say anything. Sona's Queen merely gave a nod telling of her long-time suffering.

Trent slid past them and quickly cracked off a shot, nailing an exorcist who had been looking to take advantage of Saji's exuberance and take him out from behind. As he levelled his weapon at another target, he chastised the younger blond, "Eyes open, Saji! You'll die if you don't pay attention!"

Ignoring the devil as he shouted an apology, the Canuck offered his compeers a grim smile. "Honestly, he deserves some praise for not being a total goon, but we'll keep it for after the battle."

With that, he dashed back into the fray, aiming for a grouping of exorcists that had managed to erect a barrier of some sort to protect them. A firing line appeared above the blond as a manic light filled his eyes, his voice echoing as he roared, "You hide behind barriers in hopes of escaping, but I won't let hope exist for my enemies! Besides, you should've abandoned your hope when you stepped to us, because you're in Heaven, the Heaven where I'm king!"

The thunderous roar of gunfire echoed through the air, bullets shredding through the barrier like it was tissue paper as Trent cackled. The exorcists fell before the spray, even as the Canadian closed on them and hauled one into the air. The man was babbling in fear as he stared down at his assailant, who simply grinned at him. The exorcist managed to ask, "W-what? The barrier- the Lord's blessed shield…"

"All things mysterious!" Trent roared as he shot someone who was charging to try and help the one he was holding up. He swung the man around like a club, knocking a recovering exorcist prone as he continued, "All things divine!" Dropping the man he was holding and letting the barrel of his rifle rest under his chin, Blackmore declared, "And all things supernatural."

He kept his eyes forward as he pulled the trigger and the exorcist fell, his gaze locked on the ones behind him. "I'll burn away any of them that threaten what's mine!"

"Trent, I'm rather curious as to why you're so exuberant, but did you know that you've streaks of red in your hair?" Akeno asked as she floated down beside him, peering at his hair while idly sending a lance of lightning at an exorcist that was attempting to flee.

The Canadian didn't answer immediately as he quickly fired off a pair of shots at some enemies who were looking to interrupt Issei and Freed's match. Dismissing one of the rifles, he reached up and prodded at his hair, then replied, "It's probably little streaks of strawberry blond from my mother, the blood must've highlighted it."

"Most people don't classify Gremory crimson hair as strawberry blond, unless you and Buchou have something you want to tell us?" The devil teased, her last few words dripping with innuendo.

The Canuck reached up and ran his fingers through his hair a few times, before shrugging and answering, "My only guess is that it's minor physical bleedover from the Card, nothing more. And besides Miss Himejima, I'd rather not have you make such spurious accusations about my stamina, given the short amount of time that Miss Gremory and I were talking!"

"Maybe I should test you after we finish here," The black haired woman laughed as she ascended further into the air and unleashed a calamitous blast of lightning upon the exorcists.

With Freed's exorcist backup culled, they turned to watch the clash between the Red Dragon Emperor and the rogue exorcist. The teen was clearly injured and had a fair few injuries, but he was doing better than Freed, who had been forced to his knees. The white haired exorcist looked to have been beaten unconscious, which caused the brunet to turn from his opponent and roared, "Hell yeah! Asia's safe!"

While the others were getting ready to congratulate Hyoudou on both properly awakening the Boosted Gear and beating Freed, the demented exorcist surged up and towards his foe, a lightsword ready and aimed at the teen's back. "You fucking thought, shitty Devil lover! I'mma have so much fun with cute little Asia after this!"

Josh saw it first, the glint of the blade shining as it plunged towards Issei's unprotected back, the others only barely being able to see that it was even happening. The blade neared Issei's back, the blade already cooking his shirt and beginning to go through his spine. The boy's face was beginning to twitch in pain, even as he tried to turn around.

He reacted simply by doing.

Josh fell into his natural stance, running his thumb along his blade's edge, feeling the absolute certainty he would defeat Freed here and now. No other thoughts perturbed him or ran around inside his head: it was blissfully empty, except for his enemy and what he wanted to do.

A breath escaped his mouth, as his feet prepared to lunge forward, his borrowed technique guiding his body through the motions.

With a cold heart, the Irishman narrowed his eyes and _began._

"Noble Phantasm…" He breathed to himself, _power_ coursing through his legs. " _ **Mumyou… Sandanzuki."**_

He dashed forward, his sword surged-

The First Strike punctured Freed's heart. The Second slashed his lungs to ribbons. The Third cut his neck deep, exposing his throat to cold, unfeeling air.

Josh appeared behind Freed before anyone else saw what he had done, blade glinting with specks of blood. He stood there, posed like some samurai from an old movie, eyes narrowed and facing forward.

An immortal second passed before the rogue exorcist fell to his back, three geysers of blood erupting from his fatal wounds.

To the Irishman's idle mind, as he turned around and stalked forward, it was as if it was raining blood.

He continued to walk forward, despite the incredulity of his comrades, entirely focused on finishing what he started. The pseudo-samurai stopped in front of Freed, who was already clawing at his throat and drowning in his own blood.

The demented man's eyes bulged as they peered up at him helplessly, though not begging for help. More afraid of what was coming- and what his judgement would be.

Their eyes met for what seemed an eternity, before swiftly and without hesitation, Josh sliced off Freed's head.

As the head fell to the ground, Trent strolled over and clapped Josh on the shoulder, as he remarked, "I was gonna compliment you on the smokin sick style earlier, but given your little 'nothin personnel' there, I think it'd be better if I held it back." He then looked over to Issei, and barked, "And Hyoudou! It's all well and good to celebrate a hard earned victory, but always make sure your opponent's actually down for the count!"

"Yessir!" The brunet yelped, snapping into a panicked salute at the scolding.

The blond let his features settle into a small smile, and said, "Still, you did good kid."

Josh said nothing, but nodded dully. Sona looked into his eyes, and like those exorcists, it seemed to her his eyes glowed dimly, like a predator on the hunt. Her lips tightened into a thin line, even as the Irishman undid his transformation wordlessly.

The Irishman's mind was ice cold, the fog of battle steadily fading and then… the reality hit him. He had murdered someone- not in battle, where it was quite justifiable, but he had simply wanted to kill Freed _anyway_ , and had done so with the precision of an assassin.

He breathed in, the air surging through his lungs and relieving the way they were beginning to constrict. He coughed into his palm heavily until his throat was hoarse. He retracted his hand- it was dotted with blood, just like he thought.

Josh wiped it off like he was in a trance, before drawing in a breath and walking away aimlessly.

Along with her Queen and her Peerage, Sona looked on as he did so, biting her lip from what she had just seen him do.

Undoing his own transformation, Trent felt the high and Nobunaga's bloodlust flow out of him with it, letting out a heavy sigh as he did so. Pocketing the Class Card, he gave Josh's shoulder a small shake, and murmured, "Keep it together, he was going to kill Issei, and you saved him. Even if you'd wanted to kill Freed for your own reasons, we both know that you could have interfered in the battle at any time and offed him."

The blond scrubbed a hand through his hair, his own gaze distant as he thought on just how he'd acted, caught up in Nobunaga's bloodlust and his own combat high. The blond shook his head and continued, "Just remember dude, I'm here if you want to talk." He let his eyes drift across the devils and briefly settled on Sona before snapping back to his compatriot and smirking, "And, if I'm no good, I'm sure our new friends would be glad to help."

He wasn't quite sure if he had reached the Irishman, but he knew there was only so much he could do, especially given that he'd just acted like a madman during that battle. Trent knew that he was probably far and away from being a paragon of sanity and restraint, but also knew that someone had to play the collected one at the moment. He could fall apart later.

Looking between the groups, all of them scuffed up, cut up, bruised and dirtied, he couldn't help but think that they were shining with glory and triumph. He took a deep breath to center himself and then loudly declared, "Well then, let's get healed up, and then I think we can all crash for the evening!"

The group gladly did so, all of them sporting their aches and pains like trophies as they headed for their respective bases.

{~}{~}

Sitting in the low evening light, Trent regarded the young woman sitting across from him, her own gaze intense as it was guarded. The blonde's were quietly staying quiet as they stared at each other, the tension having ratcheted up due to Irina's request to speak with Trent and Josh once they'd finished up at Kuoh. The girl eventually spoke, shattering the silence with a single sentence.

"You two knew that Ise-kun was the wielder of the Boosted Gear, didn't you?"

Trent looked to Josh briefly before looking back at the Exorcist and nodding, "Just so."

"Why didn't you tell him, or the devils?" She inquired, tone sharp but polite, though she looked about ready to draw her weapon.

The Canuck shrugged and replied, "Because he needed to awaken it himself, and they'd have pressured him much harder had they known that he was the Red Dragon Emperor. He deserved time and thought to make a proper choice."

The girl looked about ready to tear into them, her eyes ablaze, but she deflated. "Thank you, for making sure Ise-kun was okay."

"No problem," Josh replied, the first words he had really said in a few hours. It caught the other two off guard, before he continued thinking. "He's… a tough nut to break."

It was an odd word choice, but not inappropriate: Issei had the supernatural talent to not die so easily, or even give up. It was helped along, Josh theorised in some detached part of his brain, by the fact he wasn't actually a Devil here- just a baseline human.

He reclined onto the seat again, before Irina began speaking once more.

"Well, I need to report back to the Church now," She acknowledged. "The news of Freed's death is quite important."

At this, she snuck a gaze at the Irishman. Irina wondered how such a person had been able to kill Freed, who was one of the best swordsmen in the Sigurd Institute- or rather, a prodigy produced from it.

As she looked at him, reclining in his seat without a care in the world, the girl bit her lip slightly as the thought permeated her head, as well as what she would need to do in several days.

Trent nodded at the news of what Irina needed to do, but also was glad that Josh had spoken up. Instead of noting that Josh was doing somewhat better, the blond closed his eyes and murmured, "I suppose that you can't omit our presence and actions?"

"No, not without compromising a lot of things that I'm not willing to compromise on," She replied with a firm shake of her head, her stance resolute. She sat proudly, eyes forward and clear as she looked between them.

The Canuck deflated in his seat, his air of control slipping as he shook his head and remarked, "I can hardly ask you to do that for my sake. If you're going out of the country, then all I can do is wish you a safe trip. We might not have seen eye to eye, but I hope that we can work together just as well in the future."

"Thank you, and may the Lord bless both of your endeavours," Irina answered politely as she stood from her seat and bowed to both of them. She went to turn away from them but paused, her eyes on the Irishman. "Josh, listen, I know that killing people outside of battle can be hard… I had nightmares for weeks after my first encounter with a Stray Devil… but you're going to get through it. I know you're strong enough, even if I'm biased due to your helping Ise-kun."

Josh nodded absentmindedly, but he smiled as well. Irina's concern was very touching, considering she hadn't liked them much at the start of this charade.

He was still wondering though, as she took her exit. Was he like this because he had murdered another human being, even one as loathsome as Freed? Or was it because he was supposed to feel shame and regret…

And simply _did not?_


	13. Chapter 13

**DxD: KOHA GUDAxGUDA**  
 **Chapter 13**

-X-X-X-X-

The days that followed the immediate aftermath of the clash with the Exorcists and the Fallen were quiet, with those who had been involved taking time to simply decompress or make sure that Asia was settling in properly. The former nun was taking Japanese lessons, as she was simply unable to speak the language fluently, and while Rias and Sona had offered her Peerage, she'd turned them down due to her beliefs. They'd also doubled down on helping train Issei, as the boy would need all the help he could get in the future due to his position as the Red Dragon Emperor.

Trent had taken to visiting with Rias for tea and coffee, discussing just how things were going as well as how they could improve their future training sessions. The blond had also tried to subtly add in advice on how to help her scarred Peers, but he couldn't be sure if she'd actually take his advice or just put it down as meddling. He'd also taken to visiting Asia and helping her get used to using Japanese, while subtly helping her get closer to Issei, something he knew she appreciated from the quiet words of thanks that she offered.

Josh, meanwhile, stuck to himself. It had been days since he had ended Freed's life, sundered that useless pile of flesh from the world, but still there was a sense of… nothingness there. That whilst he had done the right thing and he was sure he had, he still felt numb. So he sequestered himself away and focused on his job whilst he tried to figure out what he was feeling.

He knew that taking lives wasn't as simple as media led people to believe- it was grimy and dark and certainly few people could handle doing the deed… but what perplexed the Irishman was that he wasn't feeling that sense of repulsion that people usually did.

That freaked him out.

And thus his days passed in mild isolation, forcing everything down and pointedly ignoring his Class Card whenever he saw it.

Trent really had no idea how to pop the odd bubble that had appeared around Josh, as the other man seemed to not wish to talk about just what was weighing down on his conscious. He figured it probably had something to do with their experiences taking lives, and so he figured it would probably have been to let him come to terms and talk with others about it in his own time.

The Canuck was feeling…not at ease with what he'd done, but he understood why he'd done it, and the consequences of what would have happened had he not. In reflection, he might have made the choice hastily, but whether that was due to his own desire to see those he cared about safe or Nobunaga's aggression was unknown. He would sometimes cast his mind back to how he felt when he'd fought the Fallen and the Exorcists, the intoxicating feeling of toying with their lives and then taking them away, before deciding to move forward.

It was simply something that he'd have to learn to live with, both the weight of taking lives, as well as the weight of supporting those he cared about. He also made a point to keep the Class Card on him at all times, its usual simmering heat a welcome reminder that he had the power to protect what he considered his.

Still, while he would have liked to just let things roll, he knew that there was trouble looming on the horizon, in the form of Kokabiel and the stolen Excaliburs, and so much more.

-X-X-X-X-

Sitting in the living room of their apartment, a mug of coffee on the table in front of him, Trent decided to bite the bullet. Levelling his gaze at Josh, he asked, "So, you're acting pretty out there dude, from isolating yourself and throwing yourself into your work, to not touching your Class Card and training. Talk to me dude, I want to help, and I can't if you don't talk to me."

Leaning forward, he planted his elbows on his knees. "What's wrong, Josh?"

Josh raised an eyebrow, before taking a sip of his coffee. Work had been a bitch, and he'd needed the extra energy for quite a while. He set it down, and briefly thought.

He'd never had a problem spilling his emotions out before to other people- therapy, confessions, etc. it had all been natural. But as his hands flitted on his knees, tapping out a relaxing tune and the room seemed to _close in on him_ , the Irishman had the feeling this was going to be one of those times.

"Nothing's wrong, mate," He said aloud, veins pumping from the stress starting to build up. He _rarely_ did well with situations where he was put on the other foot, after all. "Just wondering when the next stuff's gonna kick up."

He took another sip of his tea, the Canuck's eyes digging into his face, and that oddly claustrophobic feeling started up again, his chest oddly beating.

"Pull the other one, it has bells," Trent retorted, his face falling into a stoic grimace. While he'd love to just let Josh figure this out on his own, he knew the dangers of letting things fester. Picking up his own mug and taking a swig, he made a point to keep eye contact, despite Josh's shiftiness.

With a sigh, he put his mug down, and remarked, "Dude, if it was just you being worried about the future, I'd get it. But it's not just that, you've been acting weird since our fight with the Exorcists. And even if you were just worried about what's coming, that doesn't explain your sudden aversion to your Card and training."

Josh's lips pressed into a thin pale line, running an agitated hand through his hair. It was true, the Card bit- he just wasn't feeling using it. Even now, it was pointedly safe away in his room's drawer along with other shit. His eyes flitted to that direction straight away, before the Irishman forced them back.

"I'm a lazy son of a bitch you know," He admitted, partially as a futile hope of deflection. "Just haven't had the energy for training or much of anything out of work, to be honest. Don't have much time either."

Which in fairness was true- work's hours were getting pretty heavy, and he only had time to drag himself back home for dinner before sleeping. Rinsing and repeating- work, eat, sleep, sometimes in the wrong order.

He'd barely had a few hours to himself outside of work, though that didn't stop a tiny part of him niggling in doubt that he was even slightly pushing everyone away. But how could he help that? He was far more comfortable on his own than with other people, sad as it was.

But he could also tell, from the steel-eyed expression, that Trent wasn't going to give this up. So Josh sighed to himself, rubbing his forehead in annoyance before slumping back into the seat, taking comfort in its bounciness.

"Freed deserved to die right?" He said aloud wistfully, that nothingness fighting however slightly with the terror of this situation. "But… I killed him plain and simple, even if it was justified. So why am I not totally breaking down from that?"

He took another sip from his coffee, before the caffeine jolted him awake. "It's always how I've dealt with shit I guess- pushing it down till I let it out in pieces. But it's still creepy to me- not feeling anything about killing another human."

A third sip, another boost of caffeine. "Not gonna feel sorry for the bastard, but still… feel weird."

The gauntlet was laid at that simple sentence.

Trent leaned back as he weighed just what Josh had finally admitted, letting his eyes gaze past the Celt and into the distance. After a few moments of quiet thought, he put his own mug down.

"I don't feel bad. Not about killing Raynare, Kalawarner, Mittelt, or the Exorcists I mowed down." As he admitted that, Trent was forced to admit that it sounded incredibly cold.

"It was a case of us and our people, or them. I know for a fact that I'm the sort of person who prioritizes myself and the people I care about above other people, so I understand that I don't find any issue with eliminating threats to them with prejudice." The blond knew he probably sounded somewhat crazy as he explained his thought process.

Switching his gaze to his mug, he thought back to years before he and Josh had been pulled to their current situation, to when he'd been powerless and late.

"I come off as a distant person, I know that much, but once I care about people…well, I'd do anything for them." He clasped his hands together, trying to keep them from shaking too visibly. "I don't know if it makes me a bad person, but I know that if push comes to shove, I'll fight to the death for the people I care about. I think it's an admirable trait for people to have."

As he tore his mind from the memories of a thrown table and his own shouting voice, he looked up at his friend. "I don't think that you should feel bad for being unbothered by putting Freed down, but if you want to talk about it more, I'm here, and I'm sure that the others would be willing to try and help as well."

Josh took a second to absorb his friend's advice, drinking it in as he took sips of his coffee. A bit of the tension released slowly, like air being let out of a balloon. Truthfully? He was a coward, since the only thing he liked about situations that disadvantaged him was the end.

But an odd feeling spread through his chest. He smiled thinly before nodding- it certainly was nice to have people to fall back on. Dark memories of times gone by whistled by his brain, almost as a direct counterpoint to that affirmation before Josh caught them and stuffed them down as hard as he could.

There was no sense in burdening friends with his baggage- not when he didn't know them quite well enough or wasn't comfortable revealing those full details, at least, but that was on the Irishman.

He barked out a slight laugh that sounded like a sad mixture of relief and stress mixed together before relishing in silence for a few minutes, the only noise being made coming from the sips and drinks of coffee, before the empty cups were inevitably set back down.

"Still… wonder how things are gonna go from now on mate," Josh said aloud, thoughts brewing. "Riser's not too long from now, is he?"

"No, he should be popping up soon, though there's not too much we can do about him from our angle. At this point, it seems like the best thing we can do is hope that our training helps Rias and them take him out." Even as the Canuck said that, he was wondering just how things would go for the redhead. They'd accidentally deprived her of the ability to recruit Asia and Issei, though he didn't feel too bad about keeping the kids from dying.

He tapped at his chin in thought, wondering just what might happen, before noting, "And Kokopuffs rearing his head will result in the triumphant return of Irina, who will undoubtedly be coming to steal Issei's heart. Then again, the Red Dragon Emperor will probably be able to finagle having both her and the little nun trailing after him." He chuckled at the image of Asia desperately trying to keep Issei's attention on her while Irina does her best to appeal to him.

Josh couldn't help but bark out another sharp laugh- the idea of Irina chasing after Issei like a lost puppy was actually quite funny to him. Especially given the whole harem dynamic of the original work.

"Yeah… then we get Vali and the Excaliburs, and _then_ the Hero Faction," He said, the images of those enemies colouring his inner thoughts, hand turning white as he clenched it into a fist.

They were monsters, simply put. From here on, it was a Lensman Arms Race of sorts- get stronger to beat the current opponent, then get worfed on by the next, and repeat. Rinse and repeat until Trihexa arrived to end everything, then see what happens.

There was a problem though…

Josh's Class Card didn't have any special advantages like Trent's did with Nobu- all he had were sword skills and the speed to put them to use… apart from a crippling tendency to cough up blood. The only way he improved was by training, and even then he wasn't sure that just a simple sword would be enough for later volume enemies.

So… where did he go from here?

His musings were interrupted by a sudden knocking at their door. The Irishman bolted up straight, as did Trent. Wordlessly they looked at each other as the knocking continued, raising eyebrows.

"I don't remember ordering anything, do you?" Josh asked, to which Trent gave a shake of his head.

Sighing, he got up and approached the door, already preparing a rebuttal for whatever was behind the annoying knocking.

"Look, we aren't taking whatever you're selling, so quit-"

However, the Irishman was wholly unprepared for what met his eyes as the door swung open. Standing there, all prim and proper in a formal kimono, was what appeared to be a young woman with fox ears sitting atop her skull and a matching tail behind her.

She gave a quick, but formal bow to Josh as she held out a traditionally prepared and written letter. "This one humbly presents this missive on behalf of her mistress, Lady Yasaka of Kyoto, please receive it."

For a moment the Irishman was dumbstruck, before without a word he took the letter. The young woman bowed at his etiquette, evidently having expected otherwise, but continued standing there. Her fox ears twitched amongst her hair, but other than that she was, as thought before, prim and proper.

"Thank… you? I mean- thank you," Josh said haltingly at first, before he hammered out a more appropriate thanks. "I'm sorry miss, but did you say 'Lady Yasaka of Kyoto'?"

The woman nodded her head, gazing about the apartment from where she stood with curiosity in her eyes with pupils slit like a cat's. Though not out of disdain- her ears twitched as she looked over things that, quite clearly, she had never seen before.

"Yes, that is correct," The fox woman replied. "This one's mistress, upon hearing of stirrings in this area, bid her to deliver this missive to you. Lady Yasaka was quite interested when she heard of you two… but especially, of the man dyed in fire."

Her eyes unerringly found Trent, staring right into his own surprised orbs. To Josh, for a brief moment, it seemed as if her eyes sought exactly where his Class Card was stashed, before stepping forward and saying one thing that shook the two young men to their core.

"We, the youkai of Japan, are familiar with the power of the Demon King after all."

The Canuck's eyes narrowed at those words, even as he approached the door and the woman standing there. He let his gaze dart to the letter before looking back at the fox girl.

There were a lot of things he could say, from thanking her for her delivery, to trying to press her for answers, and all of those would colour future interactions with the Youkai. He was even half tempted to Install the Card, maybe intimidate the girl for her own attempts to knock him and Josh off kilter.

Rather than do that, he offered a nod to the youkai, and declared, "Thank you then, for delivering this to us. Though I'll admit, I'm _quite_ curious, as to just what the Youkai want from us."

The girl did her best not balk in the face of the person she decided to try and poke at, and gave another bow, though it was coloured by the way that she trembled. "This one is not at liberty to say, and instead must politely urge you to read the missive from her mistress. Please, excuse this one."

With that, she walked backwards away from them, maintaining her bow until she disappeared from their sight.


End file.
